Vanguard: the New Age of Heroes
by konggodamera
Summary: Fire Lord, Kaminari, Painted Lady, Night Witch, Slipstream, Combustion Woman, Kyoshi-4, Contort. Godlike heroes and villains of a new age. These are just some of their stories. (Series of interconnected one shots set in a Superhero AU, eventual Zutara) [Undergoing revisions]
1. Fire Lord: Convoy

A/N: Yeah, yeah I started something new and haven't continued Mobzilla. I've been being screwed over a bunch with work and stuff and just haven't had the time proper, and when I finally had time, _this_ popped out instead of the next Mobzilla chapter.

I'll detail more of what's going on here at the end.

Fun fact: turns out we aren't legally obliged to put disclaimers, because FanFiction has its OWN series of disclaimers that protects us.

Convoy

Soaring through the night sky at nearly mach one, one thousand feet above the Si Wong Desert, Zuko Ogata, aka, Fire Lord, finally spotted his target. Focusing his eyes on the convoy below, he spoke as clearly as he could, so the mic attached to his throat would pick it up, "Tailor, I need a scan."

The voice of Teo Sato, alias Tailor, responded, _"…Okay, I have a fix on your position, and- lucky for you, one of your satellites has a good read on that area. Just give me a second…"_

After a moment, he spoke up again, _"Pretty straight forwards convoy. Two armored cars trailing the semi, and an APC leading it._ _The semi itself is more armored than your usual highway variety. As for people, the cars each carry only two people; a driver, and, presumably, a gunner, as both are outfitted with turrets. The armor covering both the APC and the truck is too thick to get solid readings, though we can assume they both are carrying militia, and- wait… okay, the truck is giving off some sort of exotic energy… none of the satellites scanners can discern what it is…"_

"That's probably what they stole from the Bureau."

 _"I still don't understand why they couldn't tell us what it is."_

"National security. Which means that its either something thats really dangerous, can be turned into something dangerous, or will activate something dangerous."

 _"Sounds just like something the Earth Empire would be drooling over. Think Black Flame is going to sell it to them?"_

"I don't know, and I'd rather not risk it. I'm going in."

 _"Good luck, Fire Lord."_

"Thanks, Tailor."

At that moment, Zuko angled himself downwards, and increased the power of the flames being emitted from his hands and feet.

Whoever was crewing the APC didn't even see it coming. One moment the vehicle was driving fine, the next minute, there was a large explosion and the carrier flipped, and, after a few moments of tumbling, became a roadblock to the other vehicles it was leading.

The semi trailer truck came to a complete stop, while the armored cars swung around it, taking defensive positions on either side of the cargo container it was hauling. The gunners looked around nervously, knowing full well just what it probably was that was stalking them.

There was a beat of silence, then all hell broke loose.

Zuko jumped from his hiding spot behind the APC with his twin single-edged broadswords drawn. He shot towards the truck and with a swing, the front end, engine black and all, was sliced into pieces. The driver panicked and got out to run, but Zuko kicked a piece of truck at the man, striking him in the head, the man fell to the ground, dead. The gunners let loose, the mounted machine gun turrets spewing dozens of rounds a second. He held up an arm, even though the bullets wouldn't hurt him any more than a rubber band would, rounds to the face tend to make seeing things a bit difficult.

He poured energy into both of the blades, and in a swift movement, swung one at each car. Arcs of fiery yellow energy left both blades an impacted the dark red vehicles, sending them onto their roofs. With this, he folded the swords away and into the sheath he wore on his back. He could hear the doors to the semi opening, as well as the overturned APC, while the swords were great at taking down vehicles and tough objects, they tended to make hand-to-hand fights literal blood baths. While he wasn't adverse to violence or killing, he wasn't a fan of being covered in blood.

Within seconds, a force of about twenty armed men and women, all dressed in the black fatigues of the Black Flame militia, surrounded him, aiming their assault rifles at his chest. He grinned at them, "Well?"

It took just that one syllable to get them shooting, and with that, Zuko tore into the modest force. Fighting was second nature to him. Between his stint in Fire Nation special forces and the last two years spent as Fire Lord, fighting packs of ordinary humans was one of the easiest things he could do. It helped being several hundred times stronger than the average man, and at least a hundred times faster.

It didn't take even a minute before all twenty men and women were laid out on the ground, all either dead or dying. Zuko brushed off his hands and walked around to the container's doors.

The doors to the cargo container were still open from when the militia had disembarked, but as he put a hand on the ledge to climb in, something shot from the darkness, latched onto his shoulders, and tossed him several dozen yards away.

He righted himself in mid air, and dug his feet into the ground, skidding to a halt. His eyes widened, "Zhao?"

"Hello, Fire Lord." The cocky grin was large on the captain's face today, as he strut forwards with his arms spread, "Surprised?" He glanced at the wrecked armored car he was walking by. With seemingly very little effort, he picked it up, and threw it at Zuko.

A blast of fire reduced the car to scrap, and he began staring at the Black Flame captain, trying to discern why the man was suddenly so strong.

Zhao grinned and tapped his cheek, and Zuko's eyes zeroed in on the patch of red scales decorating it, and then he realized Zhao's eyes were glowing gold, more similar to Zuko's than the dark amber they were the last time the two met. "What the…?"

"A little present from the higher ups from actually surviving one of your attacks. Now I'm something more similar to you."

Zuko rifled through possibilities, and the only plausible one had very unsettling implications.

Zuko assessed his situation, one on hand, a megalomaniac was now a superhuman. On the other hand, he didn't have to hold back to avoid turning his enemy into a blood stain. A slight smirk granted his lips, as he stood up and got into a fighting stance, fire igniting and surrounding his hands.

Zhao grinned, "I wonder what it'll be like, removing your head from your body."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to keep wondering that," with those words, he shot a laser-like beam of heat energy from his hands, knocking the captain onto his back. He used the time Zhao took to get back on his feet to close the distance and engage the older man in hand-to-hand combat.

Zuko was unpleasantly surprised as to the strength boost Zhao received. The captain was almost his equal.

The keyword was 'almost'.

Zhao hadn't spent most of his life training with supernatural strength and speed, and he definitely never trained with someone who was just as frighteningly strong.

The captain made him fight for it though, he could take most of what Zuko could dish out, and could fight back pretty damn well. And while Zhao couldn't produce fire of his own, he was definitely more resistant to the heat than a normal human.

It took ten minutes of punches, kicks, counters and grapples until Zuko found his moment. He got through Zhao's guard, and- seeing as he could withstand even the stronger blows Zuko could dish out- decided that more drastic, less refined measured were needed. He grabbed the man and hurled him into the sky, and quickly followed him, flames emitted from his feet and hand propelling him upwards. Within a few seconds he caught up to Zhao, and proceeded to haul back and punch the man back towards the ground.

The impact Zhao made was strong enough to made a hundred-foot wide crater, with the captain at the center. However, when Zuko landed, he was astonished to see Zhao rolling over to get back on his feet. Gabbing him again, Zuko threw Zhao into the wrecked APC, the force causing the APC to slide backwards and smack against what remained of the front of the semi trailer truck.

Zuko stalked towards the captain, as the man staggered to his feet, "You're good Zhao, but I'm just better."

Zhao's eyes flashed, and, before Zuko could react, hefted the APC like a bat and smacked Zuko away.

As Zuko got up, lights flashed and the whole area was illuminated from above as a massive aircraft descended from the clouds over the cargo container. It resembled an airplane, though, from the way it was hovering, was some kind of VTOL craft Zuko had never seen before. Four cables were shot from its underbelly and anchored to the container.

Zhao laughed, "Looks like my ride's here." He regarded the shocked expression on Zuko's face and grinned even wider, "My job was to kill you if you showed up, but, worst-case scenario, just keep you busy until a new transport got here!" He hopped onto the container and gave a jaunty wave to his enemy as the ship began to rise.

Zuko growled and got to his feet, only for the ship to shoot several grenades at him. He rolled his eyes and stepped forwards, knowing grenades would have very little effect on him. However, when they detonated against his chest and at his feet, instead of a slight warmth following the blasts, it was extreme cold.

He fell to a knee as his strength was sapped, his heat going into overdrive to prevent his body from being frostbitten, rather than into combat.

However, Zuko was not one easily beaten. He forcibly drew energy away from protecting him and into his hand, forming a glowing, rotating disc. He threw it as hard as he could and hoped for the best.

Luck was on his side, and the disc sliced through two of the cables, and the sheer weight of the container, combined with the drop caused by two of the cables snapping, broke the other two. Zhao cursed loudly and grabbed hold of a segment of cable attached to the ship, and attempted to nab one trailing off the container, however it fell too fast, and Zuko was recovering, looking madder than ever.

Knowing that he would not be able to withstand further combat with the younger man, and not willing to risk his ride out of the desert, Zhao looked up and into the ship, made a slicing motion with his free arm and the ship began to fly off. As he passed over Zuko, he shouted, "This isn't over, Fire Lord! One day, you will fall!"

Zuko followed Zhao and the ship with his eyes until they left.

 _"Quite a show."_

"Teo, you saw all of that, right?"

 _"Heard it too. What the fuck could've made him so strong?"_

"Dragon DNA. Somehow, Black Flame either has a living dragon, a corpse, or a descendent like myself."

 _"Well, that's fantastic. What I see as bad news his how high-tech that ship was. I know we knew Black Flame has some serious cash, but this… they're not just buying the best, they're making their own."_

Zuko rubbed a hand over his face and pulled the tie holding his hair in a top-knot off, and regathered it into a long ponytail, "Let's see what the mystery item is."

He walked over to the cargo container, which had largely survived its drop, sans a few cracks in the steel, and had even managed to land on its underside, rather than flipping over.

Opening the door, Zuko ignited a flam in his hand and held it up for light. The only thing in the container was another, smaller container, which more resembled a steamer trunk than anything else. With a yank, he pulled it open, and stared, perplexed as to what he was looking at.

There, nestled in shaped foam, was a sheathed longsword.

"Well. That's disappointing."

 _"What is it?"_

"A sword." He picked it up and turned it over in his hands a few times. The sheath was simple and black, and had a leather strap. He drew the sword from the sheath, his eyebrows arching as he saw the blade itself, "A black sword."

 _"That doesn't make sense, I'm getting a huge energy reading from inside that container… take the sword outside, I want to see if that's it."_

Zuko shook his head but complied, sheathing the sword in the process, and "I'm telling you, there's probably something under the foam the sword was in, or embedded in the floor of the crate, or-"

 _"Sweet Kolau, that thing_ is _the source! While I can't get a bead on just_ what _the energy is… put it this way, if the energy was pure heat, it would be like holding thermite. Though, you'd probably be fine if that were the case."_

Zuko regarded the weapon for a few more seconds, before slinging it onto his back, "Whatever. I just want to get this back to the Bureau, go home, and get to sleep. Uncle wants me to work the shop tomorrow." He threw power to his hands and feet, and took off into the sky.

* * *

Zhao took a knee, placing his right hand over his heart and keeping his eyes trained on the ground, "I failed you sir, the sword was lost. I'm sorry." He fell into a full kowtow, "I'll gladly take whatever punishments you feel-"

"Captain."

"…sir?"

"Rise, and look at me."

Zhao did so, was was surprised to see, instead of a look of chastisement or a glare of disgust, a smile of faint amusement dancing over his leader's face.

"Do not fret, Captain Zhao. While the sword would've helped, it was not vital to our plans." The man rose, and walked around his desk, placing a hand on Zhao's shoulder, "No, the real reason for stealing the blade was to test how your enhancements would hold up against the pest. It is obvious further modification is required."

"I am sor-"

"Do not be sorry, Zhao, we figured this may happen. That Fire Lord character is strong, so we will just have to make you stronger." The hand withdrew and joined the other behind the man's back, "You are dismissed, Captain, report to the laboratory tomorrow at noon for the next procedure."

"Yessir, General Ozai."

* * *

A/N: I've been planning on doing this for a while, I only just started now, though.

I'm not going to do a continuous narrative (maybe mini-arcs at most), just a series of interconnected oneshots that detail this alternate world, what the alternate world Gaang is up to, and whatnot.

I toyed with the idea of making Zuko a badass normal, akin to batman (with the Alias Blue Spirit) but I kept on just writing Batman, so I ditched it, and made him something more akin to the human torch. I kept the Batman-y elements in that he is actually trained to fight hand-to-hand and doesn't just blast shit apart, and he is more of a tactical fighter than a showboater, and prefers to think around problems than smash through them. Though, smashing is a good alternative.

As for aesthetics, what I picture and will hopefully end up getting across is a sort of halfway point between comic and reality. I couldn't find a way to put in his clothing description without it sounding ham-fisted.

The base of his outfit resembles military fatigues, though kind of tight, with a black and dark red camo pattern. Over this is black armor decorating his upper torso, and knee-high black armored boots. The sleeves stop at his elbow to make fire ending easier. In the center of his chest, bridging the armor pieces covering his pectorals, is a golden flame symbol. On his back is his sword sheath, at his belt, a knife as well as a few pouches containing tools useful for recon and infiltration missions. He keeps his identity safe with a gold trimmed, black domino mask.

 _(Just a bit more in this long A/N)_

The Black Flame is a covert paramilitary terrorist organization, intent on making the world bow to it (think HYDRA) and are the primary antagonist organization.

And, yes, Zuko's abilities are from having a distant dragon ancestor, though, at this point, true dragons are extinct, leaving only part-human descendants (which Zuko is one of the last four) or engineered abominations like Zhao.

On national spirits:

Like most of fanon, I've made the Fire spirit Agni, and, as in canon, Tui and La are still the water spirits. Two new additions were made because I wanted an Air Nomad deity, and I didn't want to go with Oma and Shu for the Earth Kingdom (it'd be like swearing to Romeo and Juliet) so I took two of the names of mountain chains, Kolau and Patola, and made Kolau the Earth spirit, and Patola the Air spirit.

I think that about wraps this up…

NEXT TIME: We get a glimpse into the mysterious, lethal, rogue assassin: Kyoshi-4


	2. Kyoshi-4: Interview

Interview

 _During the zenith of the Cold War between the Fire Nation and the Earth Empire, there was a legendary spy named Kyoshi._

Toru Araki swished the remains of his beer around the glass. For yet another night in a long series of nights, he was alone. His last girlfriend had been well over a year ago, and that had lasted only about a month. He downed the rest of his beer, and started mustering up the will to go back home, readying himself for another lonely night.

 _Kyoshi had been the lynchpin in the Empire's intelligence services. While she was assuredly human, she was almost superhuman due to a perfect mix of genetics and training. She was fast, strong, intelligent, and largely amoral. She was trained in all forms of combat, with a myriad of weapons. Her mixed Fire and Earth heritage let her blend in to almost any crowd, and she was an expert in infiltration and deception._

"All alone, soldier?" Toru's head snapped around and his eyes landed on the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

She was tall and graceful, with brilliant blue eyes and auburn hair which hung to her chin. She was dressed simply; just jeans and a loose t-shirt. A beer was in either hand. "My date seems to have stood me up, want one?" She held out a beer, and Toru stared at it with a shocked expression. She laughed, "Its okay, I don't bite."

He took the beer reverently, and asked, "What's your name?"

"Suki."

 _Over reliance was the Empire's mistake. Kyoshi had been so effective, that they grew complacent, sending her on mission after mission. With her removal, their intelligence agency was crippled, causing the Empire to fall behind its western rivals. There was a mad rush to try and find someone to replace the super spy._

"I-I don't normally do this." Toru stammered as Suki lead him up to the roof.

The redhead grinned, "Trust me, Toru, a little rooftop action is hot as hell."

He smiled back, nervous and baffled this was happening. Toru never fancied himself an attractive man, he was too skinny, too short. His hair was too greasy and his glasses were too thick. But this beautiful women had chosen _him_ of all people.

When they go to the roof, Suki lead him over to a plastic chair, something probably left by one of the building's tenants. She gently pushed him into it, and stood in front of him, swaying side-to-side, "Just sit down, and get ready for a real show."

She began unbuttoning her shirt when the sleeping pills she snuck in his beer took effect, and he slumped over.

 _It was about six months later that someone hit upon an idea: cloning. When beginning her tenure in the Intelligence Service, Kyoshi had several liters of blood drawn in case she ever needed an emergency transfusion, unwilling to risk contracting something from someone else. There was a ready supply of genetic material, while recent developments in artificial womb technology meant no volunteer would be needed to carry the baby._

"Toru… Tooooru. Hey, Toru, get up."

Toru groaned as consciousness returned to him. His eyes flickered open and several things registered to him at once.

One was that he was duct-taped to the chair he fell asleep in.

Another was that Suki was still there, staring at him.

A third was that she was dressed differently now. A thick leather jacket went over dark green body armor, similarly green fatigue-like plants, and combat boots.

Finally, that she was pointing a silencer-equipped pistol at him.

"W-what? What is this!?"

She smirked, "Toru Araki. A communications expert working in the counter-terrorism division of the National Intelligence Bureau. You've been involved in giving missions to the entity known as Fire Lord. Now answer me a simple question: who is the Fire Lord?"

"I- I don't know."

The gun cocked, he flinched, but repeated, "I don't know!"

 _There were three clones made in total. Kyoshi-2 died at the age of three. Kyoshi-3 died at the age of 14, frail and weak. Adjustments were made, blood was chosen from when Kyoshi was younger, and the womb was modified and upgraded._

Suki's eyebrow twitched and she walked around Toru, grabbed the back of his chair, and began dragging him across the roof. She spun him around, and he was suddenly looking at the street below, "I wonder what will kill you first, the bullet I'm aiming at your heart, or your head hitting the concrete?"

"I-I-"

"You have to the count of three. One-"

"I-"

"Two-"

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk, I'll talk!" His chair shifted and he was back on solid ground. "W-we don't know who he is, or where he lives exactly, but we do know he lives in Miyako. He always wears a mask, but we do know he's twenty-five to thirty years old, about six and a half feet tall, about two hundred pounds. He's definitely a National, black hair, gold eyes, and pale skin. And- uh, he has a friend, calls him Tailor. We haven't seem that guy, but… yeah."

 _Success was found with Kyoshi-4. She was just as strong, fast, smart, and ruthless as her predecessor. Just like the original, she was trained to use a large variety of weapons and combat styles, but she always preferred her duel pistols. However, just as the Earth Empire had hope that they had a new, deadly intelligence asset… she disappeared._

Suki nodded slowly. Then raised her pistol and shot Toru in the back of the head. "Sorry, kid, but I can't risk you blabbing that I'm out and about."

She stuffed the pistol back in the holster that sat on her ribcage, opposite its twin on the other side of her chest.

 _Kyoshi-4 is a wholly untraceable rogue asset. Her goals, unknown, her allegiances, unclear. Her training makes her one of- if not, the most- dangerous non-superhumans on the planet. What few, confirmed pieces of evidence point her going in a western direction, towards the Fire Nation. Hopefully, it is not for malignant reasons_.

* * *

A/N: Yep, Suki is a cold-blooded clone of Kyoshi herself in this AU.

I had a lot of difficulty coming up with something cool for Suki, I didn't want her to just be black widow (as I kept going to her as a red-haired badass super heroine) THEN I had the thought that all Kyoshi warriors look the same in the make-up, almost like clones, and I ran with the idea, meshing Black Widow with a vigilante red hood sort of vibe.

She isn't suited up with the most high-tech gear, either, she escaped from the facility she was created, grew up, and trained in, with just her pistols, some clothes, and body armor. As for why she's looking for Zuko… I dunno. Well, I mean, I do know… I just don't want to say yet.

So, this chapter gives up some more world-building, so lemme just clarify it a bit: There are a LOT more countries now. While the United Republic and the Fire Nation are one country here (the capitol now called Miyako, in reference to ATLA fics by one kangaroo2010), the "Earth Kingdom" is just a bunch of divided countries (see: beginning of Season 4 Legend of Korra Earth Kingdom). Much of it has been unified for the past few decades under the (Totalitarian & Communist) Earth Empire (see: Soviet Union). The Southern and Northern Water Tribes are truly separate entities, and the Air Nomads live in a confederacy of four theocratic countries called the Airlands (the islands the Western, Eastern, and Southern temples are three of them, the mountains the Northern lies in make up the fourth). The Cold War is slowly winding down, to compare to reality, its similar to the eighties era of the stand-off, tensions slowly declining, but there's still a lot of distrust.

That's about it for this chapter.

NEXT TIME: He can run fast enough to break the sound barrier, and he's only 19. He's the speedster known as Slipstream.


	3. Slipstream: Speed

Speed

"C'mon, Tadao, hurry it up!" Anzu urged, gripping the assault rifle nervously.

"Fricken Patola, what has your underwear in a bunch?" Tadao snapped back.

"It's that… speeder-stream guy Lao was talking about, the one who beat his ass in two seconds flat."

"You serious? You know Lao is up his own ass, he was probably just beaten by some teenager defendin' his home n' Lao was too embarrassed to admit it, so claimed the kid had powers."

"Well- what about Shinji? Or Youske? They said they were beaten by a kid moving faster than they could see either-"

"Dude, shut up, okay? Its all just- waddya call it… ah! _Mass hysteria_. I'm telling ya, its probably a bunch of teenagers thinkin' they're hot shit and attacking people who're breakin' laws n' such." He shook his head as he kept working on the lock, "There's no way in the world that a human could move faster than a bullet."

"Yeah… but what about those other weirdos I've heard about? That Fire Lord guy-"

"Just a bunch of fancy technology."

"-or that chick who can heal from bullet wounds-"

"She didn't she probably has a high pain tolerance or a bullet proof vest or somethin'." The lock finally clicked, and Tadao grinned, and turned to Anzu, "C'mon."

Anzu looked around nervously.

"C'mon! I told you, that Speed-stream doesn't exist!"

"You know," A new voice, younger and more cheerful than the other two, spoke, "Anzu there just might be right, Tadao." The two criminals swung around too see…

A teenager.

He was all lanky and wiry, with a shock of short, messy black hair. He was dressed in a bright orange, tight athletic t-shirt, black spandex shorts, simple running sneakers, thick gloves, and heavily tinted goggles.

He grinned as they stared at him, "After all," there was a blast of wind, and there was an assault rifle disassembled at his feet, "Stranger things have happened." Anzu stared, thrown to realize the young man had managed to not only move that far and that fast in the blink of an eye, but also be fast enough to steal his gun and take it apart.

The young man moved with another gust of wind, and Tadao was assaulted by several hundred punches in a few seconds, quickly collapsing into unconsciousness. The kid looked at Anzu, grinning, "Oh, by the way, my name's Slipstream." And Anzu suffered the same fate as Tadao.

* * *

"Drive! Drive! They're on our tail!"

Hun glared at Taozu, "Waddya think I'm doing, going for a casual Sunday drive?" He hauled the wheel to the right, sending them into the more run-down, abandoned area of town, and put his foot on the gas again, but the two cop cars remained in hot pursuit, slowly gaining. "Why don't you put that gun to good use?"

"It's a _shotgun_ , idiot, it had a range of, like, ten feet!"

"What are you? Dense?" The third member of their party, Yu, chimed in from the back of the car, "That's video game shit. Here, gimme." He snatched the gun from Taozu's hands and lowered his window, leaning out, aiming.

After a beat, a deafening _crack_ sounded, and the cop car spun out, now missing its front left tire, the other cop car skidded to a stop to avoid the first car. Yu lowered himself back into the car, "And that's how it's done, boys." The other two laughed as Hun began to figure out how to get back to their hideout from whatever backstreet of Yangchen they were on.

"Nice shooting." A fourth, unexpected voice chimed in, All three heads spun to focus on a new occupant in the car, a teenager dressed more appropriately for a track meet than a bank heist. Yu swung the gun around to point at the kid, but he was suddenly gone.

There was a tap at the driver's window, and Hun's head swung to see the kid keeping pace with the car, smiling broadly, "Jeez, bad temper, guys, it was just a complement."

Hun stomped on the gas, but the kid kept pace, he looked at his partners, "It's that speed-slide guy!"

"Uh, it's _Slipstream_ , as in a current of air!" The guy outside said indignantly, "It's not that hard!"

Hun swerved the car to the side, in an attempt to his Slipstream, but the teenager vanished, and reappeared on the opposite side of the car, "Ugh, such a poor attitude, looks like I'll have to take drastic measures."

Slipstream dropped back and latched onto the edge of the left rear wheel well, and dug his heels into the ground. The car swerved, and- when Slipstream let go, flipped.

After several tumbles, the car landed upright, heavily dented. The teenager sped up to check on the occupants, "Everyone okay in there?" A chorus of groans answered him, "That's good." A siren caught his attention, and he turned around to see the second cop car rolling up to the scene, "Aaaand, that's my cue. See you around!" He waved jauntily at the bank robbers and shot off.

* * *

Aang Gendun was a pretty normal Air Nomad nineteen-year-old; educated in the local temple (in his case, the Greater Southern Air Temple rather than a small, local variant), and was a pacifistic vegetarian. He even played into the biggest Air Nomad cliche of all, and lived on a farm, growing vegetables and fruits.

From an outsider's perspective, the most interesting fact about Aang was that he was adopted. His biological mother and father had died in a car accident when he was only a year old, and he was eventually passed off to his closest living relative: a distant cousin on his mother's side, a farmer named Tenzin Gyatso.

However, being adopted was practically normal compared to being able to travel at nearly the speed of sound.

Aang had discovered his gift when he was ten, running around one of the unplanted fields, under the careful eye of his adopted father. He had decided to try and see how fast he could run from one corner to the other; just under a quarter of a mile. However, after two steps, he suddenly shot forwards, covering the remainder of the distance in a few seconds.

Aang remembered the wide-eyed look the farmer had, resting somewhere between bewilderment and awe, before Gyatso had sat the alarmed child down and explained that he was apparently living proof of a thousand-year-old legend. According to myth, every few hundred years, an Air Nomad would be born with the "Blessing of Patola"; extreme speed and enhanced strength. Their birth was supposedly the herald of dark times, as they were born to protect the people from the strife they were about to face.

Gyatso helped him learn how to discipline his abilities, through a combination of martial arts and meditation, though it was Aang himself who decided to take up vigilantism.

Unfortunately, crime mostly happened at night, so it tended to keep him out and about much later than he was technically allowed.

It was almost midnight when Aang sped down the small country road that lead to the Gyatso farm, skidding to a stop a few dozen yards from the house. He took a deep breath to calm himself, not wanting to accidentally start zipping around the house at full speed. Gyatso had lost enough decorations to Aang's abilities.

On the porch was a giant furry mound Aang recognized as Appa, their massive polar-dog. As Aang got close, Appa picked up his big head and began panting, his tail starting to _thump_ against the porch, and Aang could tell the dog was gearing up for a bark-fest, "Shh! Appa! Shh! Lay down!" Aang whispered fervently.

The dog continued to pant happily, but had hunkered down again.

"Good boy. I'll give you an extra treat tomorrow, okay?" He said, petting the dog's head.

He stood up and opened the front door as quietly as he could, slipped inside, closed and locked the door again. He creeped up the stairs and slipped into his room, letting out a large, relieved sigh.

The lights turned on, revealing an amused Gyatso.

Aang smiled nervously as he moved the goggles to the top of his head, "Uh… I can… explain?"

* * *

A/N: Yeah… not my favorite one so far, but still fun to write. I feel I went a little heavy on expositing, especially in the last bit…

I had a LOT of trouble deciding what archetype I was going to base Aang off of. I always compared the Zuko & Aang dynamic to be Batman and Superman (friendship of grudging respect, one man cynical, the other, optimistic, and the relationship can either be pretty positive, or, with the right trigger, be one of the biggest rivalries in the world) so when I had Zuko as a Batman clone called Blue Spirit, I had Aang as a Superman clone named Hurricane. When I changed Zuko into something closer to his fire elemental origins, I decided that Aang would be better as a speedster, as it fit his largely air-centered personality better, and it varied up the powers toolbox the group as a whole would have.

I also had a lot of trouble with Gyatso (and I've gone with the theory Tenzin was Gyatso's name, and the LOK Tenzin was named after him). After debating making him a monk, I decided on a farmer.

A note on wildlife: its much more mundane than the actual ATLA world, though a few of my personal favorite critters made it in such as flying lemurs, turtleducks, those weird penguins from the first episode, and (extinct) dragons (maybe a couple others here and there). Sadly, no air bison. I didn't want a whole animal _species_ which could blatantly defy gravity, takes away from the coolness of a human who can fly.

And yeah, Aang's costume is kind of shitty right now. Aang is just a farm boy, so he just bought stuff that he could run in. His uniform/costume proper comes later, after he's met people with resources.

The Air Nomads are like a very large, theocratic Switzerland, where the ruling body is a high council of monks and nuns brought from all four main temples. And, instead of everyone living in the temples, now the temples are more like churches schools, and the people live in towns and cities like normal, and they're not all amazing pacifists. There's criminal and whatnot as well.

That seems to be it…

NEXT TIME: Beifong Tower is a nigh-impenetrable fortress, and, for one young woman, a supposedly inescapable prison… unless you're the Blind Bandit, of course.


	4. Blind Bandit: Escape

Escape

Toph Beifong let her forehead rest on the cool glass of her bedroom window. She closed her sightless eyes and took steady, even breaths, and listened as well as she could.

A couple living two blocks over and nearly a thousand feet below were arguing about what wine to pair with their dinner.

A baby was crying in a restaurant as its flustered mother tried to shush it.

Two men were beating up a smaller man, demanding money. One cocked a gun.

A woman was saying an angry goodbye to her husband as she struck a match and lit his gas-covered body on fire.

Toph shook her head and forcefully dampened her hearing.

That was the downside of super senses: you were all too aware of suffering around you. Being near the top of a thousand-foot tall tower only let you hear the noises better.

Toph wasn't sure when she had fully realized her senses of sight, sound, and touch were amplified to superhuman levels. She had always been blind, so she had no way to compare her way of seeing the world with the "normal" way. As much as she could figure, she always had hearing keen enough to hear a heartbeat from ten feet away, could smell when some employee had soup several floors down, and had sensitive enough touch that she could feel the way the tower shifted as people moved around in it.

Of course, those abnormalities could be chalked up to mutations exacerbated by blindness.

They weren't why she was confined to the second highest floor of Beifong Tower.

That had to do with the metal collar clamped around her neck.

Up until she was nine, Toph had only been a sheltered child. Her blindness and apparent fragility made her parents, Lao and Poppy Beifong, scared for their child's health. It wasn't until she had picked up the family's limo that she was forced into becoming a recluse. Her frightening strength (and, as one poor doctor trying to administer a flu vaccine found out, developing superhuman durability) scared her parents even more, as they believed a girl who was both blind and could bench-press a tank was a deal breaker for any and all potential suitors.

Lao poured his considerable resources into two projects; one to research a way to suppress her strength, the other, a way to "cure" it.

The suppression was the only one to bear any fruit. After three years of being largely guilted into not using her strength, Lao produced a collar-like device. Placing the small, glowing chip on it against Toph's spine interfered with brainwaves, essentially convincing her body that it was not as strong as it was. The collar had caused a huge fight between the blind eleven year-old and her parents, culminating with the little girl running to her room and locking herself in. However, much to her surprise and dismay, she woke up with the collar having been put on in her sleep.

Without the key, and without her strength, the collar remained firmly on Toph's neck.

The collar itself was decorated to pass as fine jewelry, as the Beifongs wanted Toph to be able to start showing up in public again. However, she still remained largely confined, as being seen with the collar at all times, in all situations, would rouse suspicions of celebrity-watchers.

Toph sighed and plopped onto her bed, utterly bored. Concentrating on her sense of smell, she picked out the mix of plastic and circuitry that indicated the television remote. With a lazy hand, she fished the remote from among her sheets, and flicked on the television. Instantly, the comforting noises of professional wrestling filled the room and Toph gave a lazy smile.

 _'By Kolau, that man is broken in half! He had a family!'_

While wrestling could still please her, ten years of near-continuous containment had begun to take its toll. Everything that could be done in her rooms, she has done.

 _'Where's the ref!? This can't be legal, Lan is being killed!'_

A dozen times over.

 _'OH, MAN! I could feel that impact! This might be it!'_

A knock came at the door, and Toph muted the television, "Come in."

The door swung open, and Toph assessed them. Rapid heartbeat, moon peach perfume… "Hey, Mom."

"Hello, Toph," Poppy Beifong said, "How are you?"

"Fine."

Toph could _feel_ the judgmental glance Poppy shot the T.V. before approaching her daughter and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Toph, we have another suitor coming for dinner, tonight at eight."

"And you couldn't tell me this earlier?"

"Toph."

The girl rolled her unseeing eyes, "Don't worry, I'll be ready."

"I'll send servants in to help you at six."

"I don't need help."

"Toph-!" Poppy cut herself off and took a deep breath, "I know you think you're self-sufficient, Honey, but you're _blind_ and we can't risk you hurting yourself."

Toph didn't bother to mention how she had recently stolen a knife to see if her skin was still impenetrable, and that knife was eventually found in a far-away hallway, completely dulled.

"Okay, whatever."

Poppy sighed, and Toph could feel the woman slouch and fold her arms. "I know you're… unhappy Toph. Just trust me, and your father, that this is for the best, and that, when you're married, you'll be much happier."

Toph remained silent.

Poppy ran a hand over her daughter's hair, before standing up and leaving.

Toph waited until her mother's footsteps receded, before jamming her pillow onto her face and screaming.

* * *

The suitor was the youngest one yet. According to Toph's mother, Shan Fa was twenty-eight years old- nine years older than Toph- and attractive. From what Toph could tell, he was a bit on the small side for a fully grown man, but healthy, judging from his light footsteps and strong heartbeat.

His hair product smelled too oily, but Toph couldn't tell if that was because of her sense of smell, or if he used too much product. Either way, she decided she was going to think of him as Oil Can.

Toph herself was trapped inside a very traditional dress, and was playing the soft, proper, demure girl she hated.

Like the few dinners she had had with other suitors, once the food was done, it was time for a sort of interview, so the suitor could decide if he wanted to get hitched to a small, blind girl.

Most of the questions were like this;

"So, Toph, what're your interests?"

"Not much. I enjoy listening to the radio, or some television programs, but I mostly like sculpting… its the only thing I can do properly with my… condition."

Choose harmless answers, seem embarrassed about your blindness, and be as passive as possible. The main points her parents hammered into her when meeting anyone from outside the family.

There was a surprise though:

"What're your feelings on children, Toph?"

That was a new question.

From the way her parents' heartbeats increased, they weren't expecting it either.

"W-well… I'm not sure… I am quite young…"

There was a moment of silence, then Poppy stood up, "Toph, how about we get you back to your room, you look tired."

"O-okay." Toph allowed her mother to lead her back to her rooms, but she kept her hearing trained on the dining room.

She always enjoyed this part of a suitor's visit. The suitor would either nervously or irritably tell her father that there was no way in the Spirit World that they were going to marry a girl who wasn't able to paint, weave, organize parties, or anything else a "Good and Proper Wife" should be able to do.

Oil Can had been charming enough, but he was very Earthen, and Toph knew what a "Fine Young Earthen Man" meant when said by her mother. Marrying him just meant changing wardens, trading one gilded cage for another. At least here, she was somewhat comfortable.

She waited to hear how Oil Can would let down her father.

"I… I think I'm interested, Lao."

Oh. Uh oh.

"I- I'll admit I'm a little… surprised. She had gotten very few interested suitors, and you're the only one who has shown interest after a dinner together."

"Well… Lao-" he cleared his throat, "may I speak frankly?"

"Go ahead."

"Well… I do not want a wife for her art or her organizational skills. I can buy art and hire people to organize parties. I don't need something pretty either, escorts do just as well."

Toph narrowed her eyes as she allowed herself to be dressed down for the night. Where could this guy be going?

"No… no. I don't need a wife for that stuff. I- forgive me again, for being frank- I need one for heirs. And, well, Toph seems perfect for that. She's quiet and innocuous, seems easy to please, and young, so there's plenty of time to make heirs."

Oh no.

Oh no, this was NOT good.

Toph had always assumed that if some guy decided he wanted to marry her, he either wanted arm candy, or had managed to stick around long enough to crack her "little shy girl" shell and appreciated her for who she was.

Obviously, she expected the former more rather than the latter.

She never expected a guy who wanted a baby maker. That rested at about Two Hundredth on her list of "Things I Think Might Happen to Me".

As the servants piled out of her room, her father broke the long, awkward silence between the two men, "Do you at least promise to keep her safe? My daughter is blind and helpless, she needs to be in a safe environment."

"I promise, she will be in the lap of luxury. One of my bungalows in the upper ring can be her residence, and I will visit her when trying to conceive a child."

There was another, heavy silence, though it was much shorter, "If I ever find evidence that you've abused my daughter, I will ruin you." Another silence, "But, I accept your offer, Toph isn't getting any younger, and I fear you will be the last to show genuine interest. So as long as she is safe, and well cared for, I am happy."

Toph had to fight down an uncharacteristic surge of panic. Okay, so, her dad just signed her away.

So, the guy just wants her to make babies.

So, was going to keep her in Ba Sing Se, like a little bird.

…

Who was she kidding, she needed out.

She stood in her room, dressed in just her pajamas, and began to think.

The collar was the issue. She may be tough, but she needed her strength if she was going to get out. Beifong tower had so many levels of security that she wouldn't be able to get out if she was completely indestructible. With her strength, she could just bust through everything without a care in the world.

Toph began tapping the collar rapidly, listening to it and analyzing its smell as best as she could. Just like the last dozen times she did that, she smelled metal, plastic, and electronics, and could hear all the little electric… _things_ happening in there.

Wait…

electricity…

She almost smacked her head, that was it! Electricity! She had listened in on a few electricians whilst testing the limits of her hearing, and had heard the term "overloaded" a few times to get the general gist: too much electricity can short out something. She remembered, back when her father had presented the collar, him mentioning something about how it was powered by her own body. Toph was pretty sure a wall socket had more electricity than a human's body.

She ran over to a wall socket and pried off the protective plastic her mother had put in to protect her precious little girl.

Toph stopped and thought about what to do next. She didn't think just jamming her finger into the socket would work, she needed to get the electricity right into the collar.

She took survey of what was in her room, trying to figure out what could bridge the distance between her neck and the socket. She needed a wire…

She jumped up and shot over to her underwear drawer, muttering "Well, its not like I'll be taking all of this with me." She dug through it, before locating the only wire bra in there, "Perfect." She worked it a bit, before the fabric tore and freed the wire.

Toph walked back to the socket, jamming the wire as well as she could into the collar's key hole, and kneeled down next to it.

There was a moment's hesitation.

Once she did this, there was no going back. If it succeeded, she was likely never going to return hime again. If it failed, she was coming out of it with electrical shocks and condemned to life in a gilded cage.

"Well, here goes nothing."

She jammed the wire into the socket.

"HOLY SHIT!" Toph yelled, surprised as to just how much the electrical shock hurt. She fell away from the socket, curling up on the ground in pain.

"Toph?"

"Toph!"

Her eyes widened as she heard her parents rushing to her door.

Mustering her way past the pain, she lunged to the door to lock it, but she over estimated the strength she put into the lunge, and her shoulder smacked against the door.

 _Denting it_.

She grinned maniacally, and grabbed one of the hinges, crushing it.

Her parents got to the door and attempted to jam it open, but the door stayed firmly shut.

"Toph? Honey, what-what's going on, are you alright?"

Toph snorted as she dug out the least lady-like clothes she had: a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm leaving."

"Wha-" but she was cut off by Lao.

"You! Servants! Help me break down the door!"

Knew she would need money, but, since she had never had need of bills or a card, lacked that. Instead, she grabbed a bag and jammed as much jewelry as she could. "I gotta leave, okay? I- I can't stand it anymore, being a perfect freaking _doll_ for you, or to be a baby maker for some rich guy! I am going to find my own way!"

"Toph, you don't know what you're say-"

"NO! I do know what I'm saying! I want my own life, and you can't stop me!"

Lao began ramming himself against the door, with the help of- from the sound of it- two other servants.

The hinge began to crack.

Toph felt for an escape, and found one. Sure, it was dangerous, and if her body wasn't strong enough, she could very well end up dead, but she found one.

The door crashed down, just in time for Lao and Poppy to see Toph charge at the window, shoulder first. The window shattered, and Toph fell.

* * *

Inexplicably, Toph found herself laughing as she fell.

She was free.

For the first time in her life, free.

Even if she died at the bottom, these few seconds were the most precious she ever had.

She felt the asphalt before she realized she was about the hit it.

The fall sank her two feet into asphalt, which just broke under her.

After a moment of shock, she got to her feet.

She was _fine_.

She was _free_.

She clambered out of the hole and, feeling the shocked gazes of nearby pedestrians, she gave a jaunty wave, "Beautiful night, huh?"

Toph took a moment to savor the long-absent strength coursing through her body, before running into the night.

As for what was next… well, she decided to let life take her for a ride. She could do anything now, the world was her oyster.

Her ears caught a distant scream and her unseeing eyes narrowed. She had a good idea as to where to start.

* * *

A/N: WOOWEE that was probably one of my favorites to write. While I didn't get to write a lot of… Toph-y ness, I enjoyed being able to figure out this universe's Toph. I felt like if Toph was eventually betrothed or whatever in ATLA canon, as in, she never met the Gaang, she would've eventually just left, and I tried to reflect that here.

I know she didn't get to talk a lot, but the situation she was in didn't allow for that, and I feel she needs to be in some unsavory company to foster her loud, profane mouth and make her more… _Toph_.

Toph is now almost indestructible (still vulnerable to energy-based attacks, but is almost unbeatable by bashing/cutting) and has super strength, reflecting her "Pint-Sized Bruiser" thing from canon (as she's the "big guy" in the Five-man band dynamic the Gaang has. Which, by the way, is: The Hero: Aang; the Lancer: Zuko; the Chick: Katara; the Smart Guy: Sokka; the Big Guy: Toph; and the Sixth Ranger: Suki).

The only notes I have, that didn't make it in, is that Gaoling is one of the independent provinces, free from Earth Empire control. Her family is rich from running goods between the Fire Nation and Earth Empire, which is so profitable because of the embargoes, sanctions, and boycotts the countries leveled at each other.

That about wraps it up…

NEXT TIME: A concerned Uncle checks on his nephew.


	5. Interlude: Iroh

Iroh Ogata woke up with a huge groan, and started his day.

He had a pretty regular morning schedule; wake up at five, brew tea, cook breakfast, drink said tea while eating said breakfast, shower, get dressed, get downstairs to the Jasmine Dragon at five- just in time to greet whichever employees were scheduled for that day- open the shop at six. Zuko would usually tromp downstairs at around eight- just in time for the breakfast crowd to really start pouring in.

So when nine o'clock rolled around and Iroh still hadn't seen Zuko he figured his nephew must've been on some "late night business" again.

Iroh had no issue with Zuko risking his life to try and help the world. If anything, he was jealous.

"Mister Ogata!" A brunette, Earthen girl, Jin, called through the order order window, "Table three wants more Jasmine!"

Iroh regarded the amount of teapots he had on the stove top and chuckled, calling back, "I'm brewing as fast as I can, Miss Jin!" Subtly, he flexed his fingers, sending more heat into the teapots, bringing them faster to boil.

Growing up with the Dragon's Gift had been a heavy burden for Iroh. Having such strength, speed, and the ability to create and control heat energy made him wish to do something greater than just manage the family company, Ogata Industries. However, his father, Azulon, and his grandfather, Sozin, had pressured him into keeping the gift hidden from the public eye, as it had been for the last four hundred years.

By the time Azulon had died, and Iroh ceded the company to his younger brother Ozai, he was in his sixties, and despite being in surprisingly good physical state for his age, his wanderlust has calmed and his inner fire cooled from so many years of little use.

So when Zuko returned from his stint in the military, asking his Uncle to help him become a hero, he had happily agreed.

Iroh shook himself out of his reverie and continued making tea, putting aside a small bag of ginseng for his nephew. He had a feeling Zuko wouldn't be showing up for work today.

* * *

At ten o'clock at night, the chairs were put back on the tables, employees went home, the doors were locked, and the open sign was swung around to read "closed".

Still no Zuko.

Iroh sighed and whipped up a batch of ginseng tea and poured it into a thermos, and bagged a sandwich he had made earlier. Shifting the food into his arms, he went down a long back hall.

He stopped at the very end, in front of a mirror. To his left was the door to the supply closet.

His hand grazed the metal working on the mirror's frame, and with a triumphant smile, found the small button. Pressing it in, he shifted to the right, pressing his palm into a square of concrete was was a slight shade lighter than the rest of it.

There was a loud *clunk* and the mirror moved back a few inches before sliding sideways into the wall. Iroh sucked in his gut and wedged his way into the small elevator. Pressing the "down" button, the door slid into place, and the elevator lurched down.

The bunker was a relic from the Great War, constructed as a safe house for the Ogata family to protect them from air raids. When Iroh and Zuko began to create Fire Lord, Iroh had decided to move his teashop into the building above it, which worked out well, as it was larger and more central than the previous location. The bunker itself was built amongst the lava tubes deep beneath the city, so expanding it was relatively easy, as well as hiding the rubble created from blasting and disintegrating the rock away, and bringing in equipment and materials bought through contacts in the company was made simplistic.

The elevator came to a halting stop, and the door slid open, allowing Iroh to step out into the facility.

The bunker was fairly simple in design, consisting of only one main room with three smaller rooms attached to it. The auxiliary rooms were a bathroom and bedroom, in case Zuko ever needed to sleep down here (something Iroh realized was happening more regularly) or if Zuko ever needed to bring an ally for whatever reason. The third room was the "lock-up" where Zuko kept dangerous experimental weapons he confiscated from Black Flame or whatever terrorist/super criminal he tangled with. A fourth door lead to the system of lava tubes underneath the city, which Zuko used to get out into the world when he was in Fire Lord mode.

The main room was multi-purpose, the left wall dominated by the doorways to the other rooms, and a large case which showed off the current Fire Lord costume (Iroh still preferred the antique armor Zuko had first used, but to each his own). The right wall contained a reinforced glass covered opening, sealing in a small cell, perfect for containing anything potentially hostile Zuko deemed necessary to bring back. The center wall was rigged up with a variety of computer screens and an overly large keyboard, behind which sat Zuko, dressed in just a black t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Zuko," Iroh called out, "I have your tea!"

His nephew was silent, still.

Iroh's brow furrowed in confusion and he walked forwards, examining what was keeping the twenty-eight year old's attention. They seemed to be museum records and news articles.

"Zuko?" He said again, reaching out and touching his nephew's shoulder.

The younger man jerked and spun his chair around, "Oh! Uh, Uncle… hi."

"I brought you some tea."

Zuko smiled a bit and took the mug, sipping it slightly, "Thank you."

"What went on last night? Why did you not show up for work?"

"Sorry, Uncle. The Bureau asked me to retrieve a weapon that Black Flame stole. I got it back but…" he trailed off, before hitting a few keys and pulling up a picture of a National man, bearing big side burns and a cocky smile, dressed in the blue fatigues of the National Navy. "You recognize him?"

A memory sparked in Iroh's mind, "That's… Lieutenant Zhao, correct? I thought he had vanished."

"He did. Four years ago, a court-martial found him guilty of inciting a mutiny and leading his rogue crew in an attack on an Earthen pleasure cruise that was on the wrong side of the embargo line. Two days after the guilty verdict, his cell was found empty and he was never seen again. that is, until three months ago when he lead a Black Flame unit in an attack on a top-secret Fire Nation research facility on Crescent Island. He managed to escape in some type of submersible vehicle." Zuko turned his chair around, accepting the tea and sandwich Iroh held out.

He took a swig of tea and a bite of the sandwich, and continued speaking, "Last night, the Bureau dispatched me to intercept a convoy transporting an artifact they had stolen a while back. Zhao was there, but he was different. He has _abilities_ now. Extreme strength, durability, and heat resistance… and he has scales. Dragon scales. He claimed Black Flame gave him his new abilities as a reward for surviving Crescent."

Iroh's eyes widened, "Did he mention how they gave his this?"

A wry grin appeared on Zuko's face, "If he did, I would've shown up for work today." He gestured at the screen, "I've been checking the records of every museum that has some form of draconic remains. Everything is accounted for, and I even checked for clerical errors and inconsistencies, in case someone stole a preserved dragon egg or something and no one reported it out of embarrassment."

Iroh stroked his beard and scratched his ample stomach as the pair remained in silence, both thinking about the problem.

The older man sighed, "Zuko… if all likely probabilities are off the table, perhaps we have to look at the improbable. If Black Flame couldn't have gotten ahold of a true dragon's genetic material perhaps they themselves employ a hybrid."

"True, but that doesn't make sense. There were about fifty hybrid families by the time the dragons went extinct, and over the past thousand years, they all bred into a single family. They all kept meticulous records, it would've been extremely hard for someone to slip through the cracks. You and I were the last two empowered hybrids born."

"And your father and sister."

"Uncle…"

Iroh raised his eyebrow, "You know yourself, not only how crafty and intelligent Ozai and Azula are, but also just how strong you can get if you train to use your abilities correctly."

"I never saw my father summon more than a flash of light and make a room a touch warmer. Azula was stronger than that, but she was barely trained. There's no way either of them could've survived the plane exploding _or_ being stranded in the middle of the arctic sea." Zuko waved his hand dismissively. Iroh knew that despite the sudden anger in his nephew's eyes, he- like Iroh- held little happiness for the pair's supposed deaths. The two had tormented Zuko for years, Ozai because he found young Zuko's kindness and big heart disgusting, Azula because she wanted her father's approval. His mother, Ursa, had done her best to protect him, until cancer had claimed he life when he was just nine years old. The torture only ramped up from there, moving from mental and emotional to physical for the next four years, until Iroh finally convinced Ozai that he didn't want "such a weak, mangey pup" (Ozai's words, not Iroh's) living in the mansion anymore.

Despite this, when the plane the two of them were on exploded mid-air, spreading wreckage across the Northern Sea, Iroh and Zuko still felt saddened. Iroh, for what a young, happy man his brother had once been, and Zuko, for the cheerful, eager-to-hug little sister Azula once was.

Iroh blinked to clear his mind, and shrugged, "Then I don't know, nephew." there was a moment of silence, before he broke it again, "How about you come upstairs, finish your meal, and get a good night's sleep?"

"Uncle…"

Iroh cocked an eyebrow.

"But-"

He folded his arms.

"Alright, alright, by Agni, fine." Zuko swirled around towards the computer, "Just let me close up, if I'm not up in ten minutes, you can come back and knock me out."

Iroh made his way back to the elevator and pressed the button to open it up. Before he stepped in, he turned and went back to Zuko, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Nephew, I know what you do is noble, but do not let it consume you. I don't want you to lose yourself to the Fire Lord."

Zuko sighed, "I'll try, Uncle."

Iroh patted his nephew's shoulder once more and went back to the elevator. "I hope so, Nephew, I hope so," he muttered.

* * *

A/N: Iroh, Iroh, Iroh, I love Iroh. He's like a fusion of Yoda and Gandalf, super wise and cool, but also supremely badass. This Iroh, sadly, never had a hey-day of cool badass, since the Ogata clan wants to keep the powers on the down-low (because that would attract a LOT of attention) but that doesn't mean he isn't well-trained with his powers. After all, Zuko had to learn how to use his abilities from somewhere… speaking of, the "Dragon's Gift" develops at odd times, Zuko developed his abilities at twelve. Azula developed hers at nine, and Ozai, who was secretly formidably strong caught it, trained her early, and despised Zuko for being seemingly powerless.

The Ogatas are an old money clan, who own Ogata Industries, our Stark/Wayne Industries parallel. Iroh was going to inherit it, but he never wanted any part of it, so when Azulon kicked the bucket, he let (the seemingly sane) Ozai take the reins. Then Ozai (as we have already seen him, so it'll only be a surprise for Zuko and co.) faked his death so he and went into hiding with Azula so they could finish building Black Flame. The company is still technically owned by Iroh and Zuko, but they let the CEO, Izran Jeong Jeong run it, content with working Iroh's tea shop.

And, yeah, Zuko has a Batcave for sorts. I dunno, what would I call it, the "Caldera"? Anyway, It was mostly built by Zuko's strength and heat powers, by the way.

Speaking of, yeah, Zuko was in the military, in a special forces unit, but that's back story for a later story.

I wanted to put Teo in, but it became ham fisted and awkward, so he'll get more focus another time.

Uh… that's about it, I think…

NEXT TIME: She supposedly only existed in myth, but many believe the Painted Lady haunts the Southern Water Tribe.


	6. Painted Lady: Heist

Heist

Police Chief Hakoda Yupik tried to keep himself from crushing his coffee cup while observing the situation he was facing.

Two hours ago, a bunch of thugs decided to hold up the Southern Municipal Bank, only for it to turn into a stand-off because the idiots didn't realize a cop car had been parked across the street.

Now, eight, heavily armed, nervous men were keeping eight civilians hostage in the bank's lobby, and it was up to Hakoda to arrest those men and rescue the civilians.

It was a shit day to have only had four hours of sleep.

"Sir!" Hakoda's head swung around and his eyes rested on a beat cop, the name "Ujarak" came to mind. Standing next to him was a short, tubby man, dressed in an ill-fitting suit. His lighter skin and ruddy eyes marked him as a Fire-Water mix.

"Yes?"

"This is the hostage negotiator-" he paused, looking at the man, who's visible irritation made it clear that he had only just introduced himself to Ujarak.

"Tsuburaya, Chief Hakoda." He finished, sticking his hand out to Hakoda.

The police chief took the hand happily, giving it a solid shake, "Pleased to meet you, unfortunate that these are the circumstances."

"Same. So, down to business, we have a line inside, right?"

"Yes, the bank has a landline in the lobby. Why, I don't know, but its there and functional."

"Good, good. Alright, just point me to where you've set up the- huh."

"What?"

"That fog wasn't there two seconds ago…" The negotiator said, pointing behind Hakoda.

The chief turned, and his eyebrows rose considerably.

Rolling down the street at an alarming pace was a thick fog bank, at last ten feet tall, and thick as sea prune stew. It took a moment, before something clicked din Hakoda's head, "No, no, she's a myth…"

"What? Who's a myth?"

"Uh… nothing… it has to just be odd… fog…" he trailed off as the fog suddenly flattened, picked up the pace and swerved, right towards the bank.

* * *

Shen was wondering where he could find something to eat in a bank when something caught his eye outside, "Hey, uh, guys, you need to see this."

His partners- three of whom where stuffing money in duffle bags, two guarding the hostages, and the other two sitting on the floor and shooting the breeze- all turned their attention to Shen. He pointed a shaky finger outside.

Thick fog was quickly obscuring everything outside the bank doors, greying out the light and giving the impression it was now near sundown despite being high noon.

"Shit, guys. Is- is this her?"

"Nah man," One said shakily, "It's, uh, its gotta just be some weird fog."

"Ain't like any fog I ever saw." Someone else responded.

"Nah, man, they have fog like this at Foggy Swamp."

"They live in a fucking swamp, of course they have-"

"Uh, guys," Shen said, noticing something near the ceiling and doors, "It's… it's coming in."

Sure enough, thick fog was pouring through the cracks in the doors and the vents above their heads. Within minutes, Shen could barely see the floor, let alone other people.

"Guys, guys, we gotta keep talking and get close together, we don't want someone sneaking up on us."

"Shen, you're so fucking para- AUGH!"

"Eiji? EI- ARG!"

One by one, Shen heard his friends get attacked. They would just scream and be silenced, whether in the middle of a sentence or not.

Soon, it was quiet, and Shen got the feeling he was very much alone.

Then it seemed like the mist thickened and _took form_ , folding and compressing in front of him, into a distinctly human shape. One that was distinctly that of a woman.

He raised his shotgun up, and when she took a step forwards, unloaded the two shots he had in it.

There was a grunt of pain, and she fell back a step… only to just begin walking towards him again.

Panicking, he tried to fish out more shells, but before he could, a deep purple hand gripped his gun and tore it out of his hands, throwing it across the room. The hand then gripped his throat and raised him off the ground as he finally got a good look at the attacker.

She was beautiful, yet unsettlingly alien. He could see the shape of a Tribeswoman, but instead of a deep brown, her skin was purple, like the night plums from the Fire Nation, and marked with bright red streaks like a tigerdillo's stripes. Her hair was amorphous, lacking individual strands, like a vaguely hair-shaped could attached to her head. Her eyes were the most unnerving; glowing, luminescent turquoise, giving her an otherworldly presence.

"Wh-what are you?"

She grinned, revealing triangular, orca-shark-like teeth, "I'm the Painted Lady."

With that, she swung him, slamming him into the ground, and everything went black.

* * *

When the two shots had stopped echoing and the fog dissipated, Hakoda immediately lead his team into the bank.

The hostages, all alive and unharmed, were slowly getting to their feet.

As for the bank robbers…

All were in varying states of unconsciousness and restraint. About three were just laying on the floor, four were- of all things- _frozen_ together in a block of ice that stopped at their heads. And one was frozen to a wall, eight feet off the ground.

Hakoda could only scratch his head in bewilderment at the sight.

Ujarak sidled up to him, "I guess she isn't a myth after all, huh boss?"

The chief snorted, "Yeah. Guess not."

"Y'know, at least she's putting those abilities to good use."

Hakoda turned and pinned Ujarak with a withering glare, "Dangerous talk, Ujarak. Vigilantism is still a crime, not something to condone."

The cop shrunk under the chief's stare, and nodded.

Hakoda turned back to observe the scene some more. Now, cops were trying to chip the ice off of the frozen robbers so they could be properly arrested.

"The media is going to have a damn heyday with this."

* * *

A trail of mist curled through the air, eventually making its way to downtown Southern City. The vapor twisted towards an apartment building and- after a moment of searching- found the right window and slipped into a bedroom, before collapsing and condensing into the Painted Lady. With a shudder, she closed her eyes and breathed out, and her whole body transformed.

Purple and red skin lightened and changed to a mocha color, ethereal, mist-like hair thickened into dark brown locks, and luminescent eyes darkened and lost their glow as they turned from turquoise to solid, true blue. The red dress she wore morphed into gym shorts and a sweater.

In place of the Painted Lady, was Katara Yupik, student at Southern Medical Universty and daughter of Police Chief Hakoda Yupik.

"That always feels weird," she muttered, before flopping on her bed.

 _"You'll get used to it."_ A voice responded in her head.

"I hope so. I have classes and stuff, I can't afford to feel like I'm about to pass out despite having gotten a _decent_ amount of sleep."

 _"Erm… yes."_

Katara smirked at the hesitant response of the spirit. She had been dormant for nearly two hundred years. College was a bit of an alien concept for her.

"Do you think it was a good idea to really… reveal ourselves like that to the world?"

 _"Yes. We are now letting others like us know that we are here. That we are also doing good and willing to work for a better world. In that way, we open up the amount of potential allies in case there is an opponent or force that we are unable to fight."_

"I know you're right. I'm just nervous. As soon as that Fire Lord guy started doing big, public things, he's had throw-downs every few months with whatever enhanced that decide they could take him."

 _"Such is the nature of power. It invites challenge. When the spirits still roamed the world, you would be surprised as to the amount of mortals who tried to fight Agni or any of the higher spirits. If people see someone stronger than them, they are inherently jealous, and wish to challenge them. So when someone has the skills, tools, or abilities to do so…"_

Katara "hmm"ed and nodded. She rolled over on her bed, "While this is very interesting, please let me sleep. I'm exhautsed and I have a test tomorrow."

 _"Sleep well, Katara."_

"Thank you, Lady."

As Katara drifted to sleep, she let her mind wander.

She worried about her brother, who was working overseas.

She hoped her father wouldn't get too angry at her- well, the "Painted Lady"- because she was a vigilante.

She missed her Gran Gran, still cooking sea prune stew and puttering around Katara's childhood home.

And she remembered her mother, killed by a mugger right in front of her when she was eight.

She remembered the man's cruel face as he shot the woman for trying to stop him for grabbing Katara, trying to get at the little girl's whalebone necklace.

She remembered crying over her mother's body as the man made his escape with the money he had taken from Kya.

Her fist tightened on her sheets, and she resolved herself to help and save people- both as a doctor and the Painted Lady's host- for as long as she could.

* * *

EDIT: Just wanted to fix a typo. Katara is a medical student, not a doctor.

A/N: Aaaaaand here is Katara! The Painted Lady!

I had a bunch of different ways I was thinking about writing her abilities, from nothing water-related, to pretty much just waterbending, before finally settling on this, where she wasn't _born_ with abilities, but merged with a spirit to get them. I won't go into the full deal with that, as I can easily picture a scene _in-universe_ where she talks to someone about her story, but yeah, Kata is playing host to the actual Painted Lady spirit.

Her powers pretty much make her the Vision/Martian Manhunter of this universe, with a diverse set of abilities. She can control water much like in the show itself, and she can also fully transform into a cloud of water vapor, and she can combine these abilities to create giant fog clouds to blanket an area, them manifest anywhere in the cloud. She can also change her appearance at will, and uses this purple demon-y appearance to protect her identity. But hell, she could make herself bright pink with flashing yellow polka-dots if she wanted to… I don't know _why_ she would want to, maybe she would be in a Doctor Suess-esque realm.

As for spirits, I'm picturing them as, thousands of years ago, being super active, but over time, have taken more passive, observing roles rather than active involvement. The Painted Lady is an exception.

*drums fingers*

Yeah… doesn't seem like anything else… OH! Just, please, review, whether its questions, comments or concerns. Not because I want the numbers as some point of pride, but because I like feedback, it gives me a better feel as to where I'm going and how I should proceed in a story.

Anywho.

NEXT TIME: The last member of this group isn't the man you're expecting. Nope, not by a Longshot.


	7. Longshot: Silence

Silence

Most people I've met believed my silence to be voluntary, that I just don't like to speak for some reason, whether it be I'm "standoffish" or "shy". Most others thought I was mute, whether because I was some kind of wilderness child who never learned how to speak in his early years, or I have some sort of psychological issue.

Only about five people in the world know the true reason.

* * *

Steady, even breaths.

The wind is blowing lightly to my left, I shift a bit to the right.

I hold my breath, stilling the bow.

Let go with my fingers, not pulling away my whole hand.

The arrow flies true, the breeze carrying it that needed foot to the left to end up lodged in the man's skull.

Shouts of surprise and shock ripple through the assembled Earthen "soldiers", as I sling my bow over my shoulder and make my escape, leaping rooftop to rooftop across the long-abandoned town.

No one sees me, thank Kolau, but that doesn't mean they won't recognize my handiwork.

Not many hitmen work with arrows.

* * *

An hour later, I reach the jeep I had hidden in the nearby hills. Settling in it, I pull out the junky, disposable cell phone that was stuffed in the glove compartment and hit the only number stored in it.

After two rings, a deep voice answers, _"Is it done?"_

I tap twice on the mouthpiece, the agreed upon signal for yes.

 _"Fantastic. Your payment will be where we agreed, within the next two hours. It was a pleasure."_ With that, the man hangs up.

I snort and start the car up, turning around, and driving away from the area before the soldiers began looking in this area.

Doing dirty work and killing Earthen Warlords for each other ("Generals" is what they were officially called, but they were very much Warlords) isn't the noblest of pursuits, but it pays well, and, frankly, they deserve it. The Empire is little more than a medieval state nowadays, falling apart at the seams, as the countries it consists of slowly try and reassert their autonomy. That doesn't stop Ba Sing Se from trying to reassert control by sending out the most brutal military leaders they have and pretty much telling them to "go wild".

And considering I lack a family due to one of those Warlords tearing through Gaipan, I'm happy taking work from them if it meant killing another off. They're a jealous and power-hungry lot, each wanting the best land to lay claim to. The one I just killed off was in control of a port city which another Warlord wanted- something about fish and brothels, I didn't pay attention.

I settle into the seat and continue driving.

* * *

Everyone takes the spoken language for granted. It honestly disturbs me as to how poorly some people talk. Mispronouncing things, saying words in the entirely wrong order, finding those who speak properly incomprehensible…

But, I digress.

As something that so many take for granted, its surprising just how crippling loosing the ability to speak is.

While it's said most communication is through facial expression, you can hardly have a nuanced conversation through that, especially with strangers.

So you can only imagine what it would be like for a child to loose his tongue.

* * *

I carefully set up my nest as a rally assembles down below.

The bow is tightened, the arrows sharpened, and the security guard who should've been patrolling the roof was wedged in the utility closet.

A loud cheer rips from the crowd and I roll my eyes. Some Warlords have managed to build odd cults of personality around them, "spoiling" and "protecting" two or three favorite towns, until the people believe they're some kind of savior.

I honestly don't care, beyond being mildly irritated that is.

If the people want to believe Fong, a man who has massacred multiple "rebellious" towns, and kills on a whim, is "good" because he treats them well is all hunky-dory. That's their problem if he dies.

I raise a spyglass so I can get a look at the target, and I quickly find him on the stage, when something catches my eye.

Behind him, in a standard security guard pose, is an absurdly large man, both in height and width, a leather strap covers his left eye.

Memories spark in my mind.

 _Father dead, hanging from the roof._

 _Mother and my sister, Asa, being…_ shared _by the soldiers._

 _Me, trying to fight them, when a giant of a man pulls out a knife and sticks it in my mouth…_

Long suppressed anger flashes through my head and I grab my bow.

The man who had ruined my life was _there_ , he worked for Fong.

Fong had either ordered or condoned the killing of my family.

I notch an arrow, thankful for the still air, and let it go.

Another arrow is notched and fired while the first was mid-air.

Fong goes down.

So does his lackey.

The crowd screams.

I smile.

* * *

Do I wish things were different? That my family was alive, that I still had my tongue, and I still worked on the farm?

Yes.

Do I regret doing what I've done afterwards?

No.

I don't know who coined the phrase "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" because life doesn't always give you lemons.

Sometimes it serves up a plate of shit.

If that's the case, its probably better for you to make your own damn meal.

* * *

A/N: Yep, Longshot, coming in as the last of the main team, as well as bringing the only 1st person POV chapter so far, and the shortest one too.

So… this one is an odd one for me, I sat down and it just kind of wrote itself. I guess Longshot, as a mute, requires a 1st person POV when in a solo fic, because at least when with other main characters we can see them act off of his stoic nature.

And yeah, this Longshot is a lot more brutal and has seen some shit. One the sliding scale of idealism vs cynicism, he's all the way down at the cynical side. Who can blame him?

As for why it isn't Sokka… he comes later. More stuff needs to happen in-world for him to become a superhero, as, right now, he's working security at the SWT's embassy to the Fire Nation.

NEXT TIME: Two of our heroes collide, and the foundation of Vanguard begins to be built.


	8. Fire Lord and Kyoshi-4: Meet Cute

Meet Cute

Zuko just wanted to go to bed.

It had been two weeks since the convoy fight with Zhao, and he was completely dry on leads. What made this worse was the fact that he had spent nearly every night since the convoy researching any possible bit of pertinent information. These two things combined left him extremely tired and incredibly irritable (though Uncle said "incredibly irritable" wasn't that far off from his usual state).

Now, with the Jasmine Dragon closed and cleaned, all that separated him from his bed was taking out the garbage.

So of course someone shot at him.

He had just finished throwing out the day's garbage in the dumpster that sat in the alley behind the Jasmine Dragon, and was halfway back to the door when a clicking caught his attention.

Zuko came to a halt, and scanned the alleyway, allowing his heat-sensitive vision to take over, as the darkness was far too dark to be priced by his vision. He noticed the human-shaped object at the far end only a second before they pulled the trigger and let loose a burst of gunfire.

Instead of dodging- which, in retrospect, would've been smarter- he stood his ground, allowing the bullet to tear through his clothing and ricochet off of his body.

Something he noticed while the bullets flew was that the shots were muffled, indicating a silencer. This wasn't just some random street thug, it was someone with resources. If he had to make a wild guess, it was a power-grab. He and Iroh together had the controlling share of Ogata Industries, and while they didn't participate much in decision making- something left to CEO Izran Jeong Jeong- if they were to die, those stocks weren't set to anyone in their wills, so they could potentially be bought up.

As soon as the several seconds of bullets were over, he surged forwards, closing the several-yard gap in less than a second. He tore the assault rifle from their hands and quickly found the attacker's throat, pinning them against the alley wall. With a flex of his energy, he caused his left hand to glow, revealing his attacker.

She wasn't a typical hitman, that was for sure. If anything, she looked more like a gymnast decided to strap on body armor and pick up some firearms. Objectively, yes, Zuko would admit she was pretty, with vibrant red hair and striking blue eyes, but he wasn't one to dote on someone who just shot at him- bullet-proof nature or not.

"Who are you?" His voice came out as a growl.

The girl only smirked at him, "Drop the tough guy act. I don't think you'll incinerate some poor woman in an alley in the middle of Miyako. What would the public think of the Fire Lord then, hm?"

"Don't test me. Who are you?"

She rolled her eyes, "Won't do you much good, but the name I go by is Suki Ishikawa."

"What do you mean 'go by'?"

"Well, I don't _have_ a real name, only a 'designation'," she brought up her right hand and made an awkward point at her wrist with that index finger. Swiftly, his free hand shot out and tugged down the sleeve, revealing a tattoo on the girl's wrist.

His eyes widened.

There, on the pale skin of her wrist, was 'KYOSHI-4'.

His eyes returned to hers, "What- what is this?"

"My name, I thought you wanted it."

He snarled and the energy causing his hand to glow started sparking out of his fingertips.

She sighed, "Look, Sparks-"

"Don't call me that."

She ignored him "-I will gladly tell you all the sordid details of my past… but I've come asking for your help."

"You _shoot_ at me and you have the gall to ask me for _help_?"

Another eye roll. Zuko was tempted to just pluck them out. "I'll apologize for shooting at you, but I had to make sure you were the Fire Lord. I've gone through way too much trouble finding you for you to be some random ass who only looks like the Fire Lord."

"And what would've happened if I _wasn't_ the Fire Lord?"

She shrugged, "Hopefully I would've been able to get him to a hospital's front step in time."

"You're not really helping your case here."

"So be it. The life of some hypothetical lookalike is nothing compared to why I sought you out."

His eyes narrowed, "Why is that, anyway?"

"The fact that if you don't help me, there will be a lot more girls, just like me, roaming the world. And, if certain people have any say, they will be a lot more unscrupulous than me."

Zuko hesitated. On one hand, he should probably drop her off at some federal authority. Being willing to just shoot someone like that, not hung up as to whether or not they'd survive… she was clearly unhinged. However, the promise of even _more_ girls like her, who care even less, was honestly terrifying. And, judging by that tattoo, he'd have to say that she wasn't made through some recruiting program, especially with the label 'Kyoshi'.

He took his hand off her throat, and backed off. Further away and still, he could take in her appearance easier. She looked like she'd been on the street for a while. The leather jacket, heavy pants, boots, and body armor all looked beat to shit, dark bags hung below her eyes, and her hair- despite being pulled back in a tight bun, clearly hadn't been washed in a while.

He processed this, before turning towards the back door of the Jasmine Dragon, "Follow me."

She grinned and picked up her rifle, slinging it over her shoulder and strutting after him.

* * *

Zuko was surprised as to how readily Iroh took the strange, dirty woman wielding an assault rifle just following his nephew. He just raised an eyebrow, pointed at a back corner table for them to sit, and went to the Dragon's kitchen to brew a pot of tea. Before Zuko let "Suki" sit down though, he motioned at the rifle, "Hand it over."

She rolled her eyes (one more time, he _swore_ ) but handed the weapon over. He put it on a neighboring table. "And the pistols."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment's pause, unholstered the twin pistols and handed them over.

Placing them next to the assault rife, he turned back to her, "And the bowie knife in your boot."

That joined its friends on the table. "Where'd you get this stuff?"

"The pistols I had forever. The rifle and knife," she shrugged, "Lets say-"

"You stole them."

"Yeah."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and pointed at the table Iroh had, "Just… sit down."

The girl sat down like she owned the place, leaning back in her chair and plunking her big, mud-caked boots on the table.

He sat down and immediately snapped, "Feet down."

She huffed and complied.

"So, tell me about that tattoo."

Her head bobbed around, searching for the right wording, before she began talking.

* * *

By the time she finished explaining the Kyoshi Program and her creation, Iroh had brewed and served two pots of tea before going up to the apartment. Zuko had noticed Suki (as she apparently preferred to be called) wasn't much for unaltered tea, loading hers with sugar and honey, much to Zuko's silent judgement.

After Suki wrapped up her tale, Zuko leaned back a bit to let the story set in a bit. It was far fetched, but, well, he had to admit the girl had an uncanny resemblance to what few confirmed photos of Kyoshi there were. Not to mention she was obviously well trained, between how consistently she had hit him when firing her rifle, to the confident, professional way she held her guns, she was a trained killer.

"So, what exactly is it that you need me for?" He asked.

He was almost surprised to see the near joy that flooded her face, before she reigned it in and put a cocky smirk back on her face, "Look, the fact of the matter is, is that what they've done is wrong. I mean, I'm a fucking murder machine, designed to kill anyone they want. It's only their bad luck that I realized how messed up it was. Imagine what would happen if they had made me properly. Fuck, they figured out how to make a working human after the first two 'Kyoshis', they're probably figuring out how to raise one that won't decide to go renegade on them." She took a swig of her tea, "I need you to help me destroy the Kyoshi Program. The research, the tissue samples, the bunker it takes place in, _everything_."

"Why didn't you do it yourself? You clearly have the skill set."

"Because, the most important rooms, Sample Storage and the laboratory are guarded by incredibly powerful machine gun turrets. I don't have the gear to deal with that, and even if I did, by the time I've fought my way through this facility, those rooms would be locked down. I might be skilled, but not skilled enough to bore through five inches of solid steel."

"So you want me as a battering ram."

"Well, yeah."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned on the table, "You realize that if I do this… that if I'm identified, it could lead to an international incident."

She waved off his concern, "Wrong. The Kyoshi Program is off all the books and records, only staff even know about the bunker's location, and they don't leave it. And if it were destroyed, it isn't like the Empire can complain, human cloning was made illegal, what? Two, three decades ago? They wouldn't be able to report you unless they want the League of Nations to climb up their ass."

Zuko nodded slightly, then looked at her, "Okay. I need to think about this, but you need somewhere to sleep. So I'll let you crash in my apartment for the night. Take a shower, get some sleep, you need both of those things in spades."

"Way to make a girl feel good, Sparks." She drawled, but he could see the silent thanks in her eyes.

He stood up, and motioned to her weapons, "Take 'em, we can keep them upstairs."

Zuko led Suki to the apartment that sat atop the tea shop, and directed her to a spare bedroom. "This is yours, for tonight at least. Bathroom's down the hall, second door on the left. There's, um," he ran a hand through his long hair, "there's hair products in there, I don't know what you use, but yeah."

She visually stifled a snicker, looking at the loose ponytail he had, "Well, with locks like that, I can only imagine."

"Hey, I didn't pass judgment on your rats nest."

"Asshole."

"Whatever, goodnight."

"Night, night, Sparks."

"Stop calling me that."

* * *

Zuko stepped into the kitchen, intent on fixing himself some before-bed hot chocolate, when he saw his Uncle sitting at the table, tracing patterns in the wood.

"Hey, Uncle."

"Hello, Zuko. So, do you think you'll help her?"

"You heard that?"

"My hearing might not be what it once was, but yes. I just didn't want to hover over the two of you, so I came up here."

"What do you think?"

Iroh stood up stroked his chin, "I think you should help her, Nephew. What the Earth Empire is doing is wrong, and should be stopped. And, while, erm, _abrasive_ , she does seem to be genuine in her story and her desire to see this project shut down."

"I'm just not sure if its best if the Fire Lord goes blasting through an Earth Empire government facility, secret or not."

His uncle nodded, and was silent for a moment before smiling, "So, maybe if the Fire Lord cannot do it… maybe a certain Blue Spirit can." he clapped Zuko's shoulder, "Ah, but, here I am, babbling and keeping you from your chocolate and sleep," he shuffled away, "Goodnight, nephew!"

Zuko stood in the kitchen, ruminating about his Uncle's words.

A smile broke on his lips.

* * *

A/N: WOOO

Man, this was the second scene I conceptualized when I started writing this story, right after the first Fire Lord chapter.

Yes, this will have a direct sequel (probably entitled _Raid_ or _Infiltration_ or something of the sort) and we'll see more of them, AND I'll show off what the Blue Spirit has to do with Zuko's backstory in it. Hell, it could very well end up as the next chapter, I just felt this was a good place to cut off. Keeps these chapters at similar lengths as well…

Anywho, whether romantic or platonic, I always enjoy Zuko and Suki interactions. They're both tough guys in their own ways, and I like playing Suki as more rough and tumble than Zuko, who's more no nonsense and a bit of a neat freak.

Not as much Iroh as I would like, but it felt more natural this way. I almost had a scene of him questioning Suki and who she was, but I realized Iroh is trusting of his nephew, and would easily read something big was up when this redhead girl walks in after Zuko with an assault rife slung over her shoulder. So he would let Zuko handle it, only listening in, and let his nephew figure things out, with only a little advice.

That's about all.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? I direct you to the comments box.

See ya.

…

…

Oh, who am I kidding?

NEXT TIME: Zuko takes Suki to a Tailor, and they travel to the Earth Empire to destroy the Kyoshi Program.


	9. Fire Lord and Kyoshi-4: Fitting Room

Fitting Room

 _She stared at the pistol in her ten-year-old hand._

 _"Do it Four."_

 _She shook her head._

 _"Four, do you want to spend the week in the hole?" She shook her head again, more emphatically. "Then do it."_

 _She lifted the gun with shaky hands, aiming it at the blind-folded man, tied to a chair. She hesitated again, the gun barrel lowering._

 _"Four…"_

 _She took a deep breath, raised the gun, and shot._

* * *

Suki lurched awake, panting heavily. It took a few moments for her to realize that the comfortable bed she sat on was not in a sterile white room, but a comfortable, wood-paneled room, sparsely furnished, but definitely homey.

She ran a hand through her mussed, yet finally clean, hair and tried to push the dream- _memories_ \- out her mind. Taking a deep breath though her nose, she was thankfully distracted by something else.

Something that smelled delicious.

All Suki had had to eat for the past two months was a mixture of a few stolen goods, and a lot of food scavenged from dumpsters and trash cans. It was surprising how much edible stuff was thrown away by both people and supermarkets. So the prospect of something that was neither stale nor carried the stink of shame from being stolen was too much to pass up.

Pulling the sheets back and standing up, she was thrown for a minute to not see her familiar jacket and jeans on, but instead a large t-shirt and sweatpants. Then her mind supplied the memory of Zuko's uncle, Iroh, intercepting her before she stepped into the bathroom, handing the clothes to her with a kind smile. The old man cracked her up, he must've seen a lot of weird things to be completely okay with his nephew bringing in… well _her_. With all her dirt, grime, weapons and body armor.

Suki smirked and continued to follow the smell, out the door and down the hall. She came out into what was the apartment's common room; a combination of living room and kitchen, which was currently in use.

Behind the stove was Zuko, moving between a few pans, poking and moving around whatever was on there. He himself looked like he hadn't fully started the day, dressed in a pair of loose, light pants and a tight sleeveless shirt. His long, black hair hung freely around his head, untamed by either a pony tail or the top knot he wore as Fire Lord.

"You cook?" The question blurted from her lips before she could hold it back.

He whipped around, eyes wide, but when he saw it was her, his expression morphed from surprise to resignation. He turned back to the stove before answering, "Yeah, I do."

"I'm surprised, Sparks, usually rich boys aren't so self-sufficient."

"I wasn't always. You should've seen me when I was thirteen. I was a really shitty kid."

She chuckled a bit, and he spoke again, "You can sit down, this is almost done."

"What did you make, anyway?" She asked, taking a seat at the small circular table.

"Bacon, over-medium eggs, home fries and toast. I'm just waiting for the bacon to finish up and it'll all be ready."

Sure enough, two minutes later, Zuko placed a plate in front of her that was practically overflowing with food. Two giant eggs joined a pile of bacon, and a veritable mountain of home fries, the sheer amount drove the toast onto a smaller, separate plate.

Her eyes boggled when she saw that he had even more food, with four eggs, and far more bacon and home fries. "By Kolau, Sparks, do you have an army living in your stomach or something?"

"My lifestyle and abilities mean that I use a lot of energy. While I can get a lot of it from absent heat sources, especially the sun, I still need a lot of food."

Suki nodded, and dug into her food.

It was _amazing_ , everything on the plate was perfect. Even the toast was somehow delicious.

After a few minutes passed in silence, Suki asked about the elephant in the room, "So?"

He paused, a piece of bacon halfway between his plate and his mouth, "'So?' what?"

"Are you going to help me?"

"Yes… and no."

"What?"

"I can't afford the potential of an international incident, no matter how supposedly secret and illicit this base is."

She fought the urge to pout, before he continued speaking, " _But_ I can't turn my back on you or the Kyoshi Program. If I were to just ignore the situation, I wouldn't be much better than the people doing it. So I'll help you, but not as the Fire Lord."

A grin broke out on her face, "So you're going to help me?"

"Yes." He gulped down a forkful of home fries, before talking again, "But we're doing this on my terms. As 'kickass' as it would be to just zoom on out there and start kicking ass, we need a plan. More than just 'kill 'em all'. So, over the next week, you're going to tell me every single thing you remember about the bunker. Floors, rooms, layout, staff, security, _everything_. Then we're going to figure out a plan that will get us in and out as fast as possible, while also hitting every target we need to. If we work quickly, we should be there in about two weeks."

"Two weeks?" She asked, incredulous.

"Yes, two weeks. There's also the matter of making sure you're in good physical shape. That means plenty of food and sleep. Agni knows you need it, even after a shower, fresh clothes, and a good night's sleep you still look like shit."

"Such a smooth talker, Sparks, I'm blushing."

"Shut up."

Suki worked on her plate some more, finishing off the eggs and most of the fries before looking at Zuko again, "So what am I going to be doing? You work at your uncle's-"

"He gave me two weeks off so I can do this. As for day-to-day schedules… we'll have to see. I'll largely be playing this by ear. For instance, today, we're going to my tailor."

She flinched at the word 'Tailor' recognizing it from the rooftop interrogation with Toru. She covered it up with surprise, "What? Why?"

"He's a… special kind of tailor." Zuko just smirked at her and kept eating.

* * *

It turned out Iroh had snuck into Suki's room during the night and had run her clothes through the wash, as she found them on a hallway table, having gone unnoticed during her beeline for the kitchen. So after changing out of what turned out to be some of Zuko's old clothes and into her jeans, t-shirt and jacket, she met up with her new partner downstairs, near the backdoor. He was leaning against the door itself, dressed in a purple button-down, his hair pulled into a ponytail. She snickered at his impatient expression, "What? You don't want the women of the world seeing Zuko Ogata with a pretty lady?"

He simply gave her a deadpan look and lead her out the door.

A brief walk and a wait at a parking garage later, and they were zooming through the streets of Miyako in Zuko's car.

"Nice car," she muttered, fingers tracing over the faux leather and wooden paneling. "The way you choose to live with your money I was half expecting a bicycle."

He grunted, navigating the grid-like streets of Miyako.

"Hey… how come you and your uncle live like inner city folk when you're like, the third richest families in the world?"

There was a few minutes of silence before he responded, "I don't know if you know much about my family history, but the company, Ogata Industries, has been in our family for generations. My grandfather and great-grandfather always pressured my Uncle into running the company next, but when Azulon, my grandfather, died, he passed the company of to my father, Ozai. Uncle then just went into Miyako and set up his teashop, while I was stuck with Ozai and my sister, Azula."

"No mom?"

"Cancer… when I was nine," a moment of quiet passed and he spoke again, "Well, anyway. Ozai never liked me much, and since Azula was his preferred child, she didn't like me much either, vying for his approval. There was… abuse, I won't deny it-"

"What about your powers?"

"They didn't develop until I was fifteen. So, I basically lived in hell for a few years until Uncle convinced Ozai that he didn't need me around, so I ended up living with Uncle. When Ozai and Azula died a few years later, yeah, technically the stocks went over to us, but we just didn't want any part in it. So the mansion is unused and the company is run by the CEO."

Suki nodded, deciding not to ask any more. She may not have been a "people person" but she could tell it had taken a lot for him to tell her that.

It was a while more before the silence in the car was broken, this time, by Zuko, "How did you figure out who I was?"

A wicked grin spread across her face, "It was weirdly straight forwards, but hell it wasn't easy." The face of Toru Araki flashed before her face, "I, uh, had figured out you lived in Miyako because of your record. Sure, you do stuff around the world, but the rare times you get involved in street crimes, you're in Miyako." While true, she had only realized this after finding out about his residence from Toru. "Then, it was a matter of finding what videos and pictures there are of you, and when I got a bead on your build, looks, and age range, I started picking apart Fire Lord even more." Once again, technically true, but she was just getting a better idea of what the man behind the mask looked like when looking at videos and pictures. Thankfully, that was the last of the lies.

"After that, I realized that your suit was pretty fancy, so you must be big money or have the backing of someone with big money, but I banked on the former. I had narrowed the pool down to you and a few other guys, so I started researching into your family history's to see if anything struck me as telling… and I found-"

" _The Legend of Ifukube Goemon_?"

"Yeah. The first bearer of the Dragon's Gift. So I dug into records, and out of that pool of candidates, you were the only one I could link to the Ifukube clan."

"And that's when you decided to shoot me?" Zuko asked slyly.

She rolled her eyes and waved her hand, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

* * *

The pair eventually reached their destination, a large steel and glass complex made up of multiple buildings.

"Where are we?"

"Ogata Industries' center for Research and Development."

"Your tailor works here?"

"I told you," he said, getting out of the car, "He's a special tailor." He lead her towards a smaller building on the edge of the complex, "His name is Teo Sato, and he's technically in charge of developing experimental weapons prototypes."

"Sato… I know that name."

"Yeah, he's the cousin of Asami Sato, of Future Industries. But, don't ask too much about it, its a touchy subject, there was a big family argument or something of the sort."

Suki nodded, "But… what did you mean that he's your tailor?"

"Well, he's the one who made my Fire Lord costume. He had to learn a good amount about tailoring and design in order to do so, so after a while I started jokingly calling him my tailor. So when he started acting as my mission control when I'm out in the field, his codename became 'Tailor'." They reached the door of the building as he finished his explanation. A card emerged from his pocket and was pressed against a small black box. The door made a *clunk* noise and Zuko pulled it open, and gestured for her to enter, "Ladies first and all that."

She rolled her eyes, "You're such an ass."

"If you keep rolling your eyes, they're going to roll right out of your head," he responded, following her inside, "Or, alternately, I'll just pull them out myself."

She snorted, and allowed him to go in front, so he could continue to lead her. They passed a few offices before emerging into what was clearly the workshop os a single- albeit, very prolific man. hanging on the walls and sitting on the workbenches was a menagerie of weapons, tools, and protective armor. It ranged from what appeared relatively mundane- such as a large handgun- to the exotic, exemplified by the odd, glowing orb that was contained in a glass case heavily reinforced by metal bars.

At a table in the center, a lean young man sat hunched over something obscured by the sparks of the welding torch he held. His eyes were obscured by welding goggles, and he wore a heavy apron over what seemed to be just slacks and a t-shirt.

Zuko walked over to the man, "Teo! Teo!"

He eventually growled irritably and smacked Teo's shoulder. The torch snapped off and his free hand swiped the goggles up to his forehead. He blinked a few times, then a big grin broke out on his face, "Ey, Zuko!" He lurched to his feet and grasped the other man's hand in a handshake, "I didn't know you were coming by!" His eyes flicked over to her and a slight blush came to his cheek, "Oh, um, hey." He made his way over to her and held out a hand, which she took, "I'm Teo."

"Suki Ishikawa."

"Pleased to meet you." He turned back to Zuko, "So… what brings you here today?"

"Suki and I are going on a little mission, so I need you to suit her up."

"Uh- oh. Oh! Okay, she's uh… _special_ like you?"

"Not special," Suki said, while beginning a lap of the workshop, "Just skilled, and not eager to get riddled with bullets."

"Suki brought something to my attention. It's a covert ops. thing, so I just need you to make her a suit."

"Sure thing."

"Uh, a suit?"

Zuko nodded, "One that's similar to my Fire Lord suit anyway. It'll be far more protective than the armor you already wear, and will cover your whole body, not just the torso."

"I like my old armor."

"Its crap compared to the stuff Teo can make. It'll be like going from cardboard armor to carbon-fiber."

Suki's eyebrow rose, but conceded.

As Teo walked over to a closet, the edge of his pants hitched up and something caught Suki's eye, "Are your feet… _metal_?"

Teo halted and swung around to look at her, a sheepish smile on his face, "Uh, yeah. And, well, not just that." He hitched up his pants further and Suki realized two things. One, at least his lower legs were prosthetics, and two, these were _very_ advanced prosthetics. They imitated musculature in both looks and behavior, subtly moving as he shifted his weight.

"That's amazing! Did you make those?"

"Y-yeah. But they were stupidly expensive to make, so I've been working on a way to make a cheaper version for the masses. They're good, but I doubt anyone other than a stupidly rich man would willingly pay a few million dollars for a pair of really fancy prosthetics."

"Oh. How'd you… y'know."

He turned back to the closet he had been walking to and started rooting around it, "Uh, car accident. The way the car folded, it just," he made a crunching noise, "they had to be amputated. As soon as I was well enough to start tinkering again, I started conceptualizing these guys." He made a victorious noise and emerged with a long, flexible measuring tape. He walked over to Suki, "Arms up, and please don't think I'm doing this to cop a feel."

"Don't believe him," Zuko spoke up. Suki turned a it and saw he had parked himself on a stool, scrolling through something on his phone, "He said the same thing to me."

Teo's eyes widened, "Whoa! Zuko made a joke! It must be a warm day at the Southern Tribe."

The trio fell into a comfortable silence as Teo swiftly took Suki's measurements. A few minutes later, Teo spoke up again while jotting down the numbers, "So, I don't know how familiar you are with the Fire Lord suit, but it's going to be different. Zuko's suit was built to just not be shredded by gunfire, and it's strength it bolsters because of his own skin's toughness and the energy field he projects that protects him further. Since you're relatively normal, apparently, your suit is going to be more armored."

"As long as it doesn't make me noisy or stiff as a board."

"I promise it won't. It's a blend of graphene and titanium fiber, it'll be like wearing footie pajamas."

Zuko snorted, "That's a really dumb image."

"What? It's accurate!" Teo exclaimed, a dumb grin on his face.

"If this stuff is so good, why haven't you sold it?"

"Expense. I can make it really fast because of the 3-D printer, but the materials cost a shit ton. One suit every once in a while I can do, but mass-production would be a bitch. Titanium is hard to find and that amount of graphene takes a long time to make. I've made a lesser, cheaper version, that can also be printed, but its not nearly as tough."

"That's the thing with a lot of what's on the walls," Zuko said. "Most of it is really advanced, but really expensive to mass produce. So he usually takes a step back and makes a less expensive version that the company can sell to markets."

Suki's eyes narrowed, "Wait, 3-D printer?"

The "tailor" nodded, "Yeah. It prints the pieces, but I still see the actual thing together. I had to make a specialized sewing machine to help me with that though, the material it to hard to use a normal machine."

Suki nodded in understanding, and started to examine the gear on the walls agin.

"If you're curious about anything, let me know. It all works, except the stuff on the bench, that stuff is being worked on."

Suki's interest was caught by a golden gauntlet hanging on the wall, a disc attached at about the midway point, "What's that?"

"ohh," Teo said, walking over and taking it down, "This is one of my favorites. Here, put it on."

She slid her left hand into it, and was surprised by the whirring as it adjusted and shrank down a bit to accommodate her hand. It was amazingly comfortable, for being almost medieval. "While its cool it can adjust like that… does it do anything else?"

"Make a fist, thumb resting on the first bit of your index finger."

She did so, and a disc of energy about three feet wide expanded from the solid disc on the back of the gauntlet. "Nice!"

Zuko suddenly appeared next to the pair, "If you want, I'll write my check to cover both this and the suit. We could easily use this for the operation."

"Aw, you're so generous Sparks." She said in a mockingly demure voice.

"'Sparks'?" Teo asked, a new, wilder smile blooming on his face.

Zuko just gave them both a look of irritated resignation.

Fifteen minutes later, the suit was being printed, the gauntlet was tucked under Suki's arm, and everything was paid for, meaning that Zuko and Suki were walking back to the car.

"Teo is an interesting guy."

"He's a bit of a mad genius. And just about the only friend I have."

"Poor me."

"Our first interaction was you shooting at me, I hardly think that's basis for a healthy relationship." Zuko deadpanned as he unlocked the car and got in.

"C'mon, you're telling me you've bought me clothes and jewelry and its meant nothing?"

Zuko just sighed, "Oh, jeez, Suki. You're _so_ funny."

"I try."

"I'm buying you anything for a while in any case. For the next few days, we're planning."

"woo."

He started the car, "You have no right to complain, I'm the one who's going to be stuck with you for a week plus."

Line Break

A/N: That got quickly out of hand in length, and I'm pushing back the attack for one more chapter, cutting out most of the planning. I just wanted to use this chapter to peak into Suki's past a bit (more to come, for sure) and let her and Zuko interact some more.

And hey! Teo's here! Teo, Haru, and the Duke I always felt bad for because they were in several consecutive episodes, but because the writers had Zuko join the group as well at that point, he overshadowed them and we barely got to see them more (Its one of the reasons I really wish Zuko had joined at the end of Season 2) And I will also confirm that Haru and the Duke will be showing up in this canon.

I toyed with the idea of putting Teo in a wheelchair, but then I decided "Fuck this is a comic book universe, he can have robot legs". And yeah, we have some LOK characters in here too. Yes, we will see more of them, both in quantity if character and the amount of screen time they get.

If you're curious, no, Zuko does NOT fully trust Suki yet. He trusts she is on his side, but he is not ready to trust her with feelings. That's why he delivers his backstory so factually. He's told it a few times, and that's the way he can tell it, matter-of-fact.

Oh! Uh, If you're not a big Zuko/Suki romantic fan, don't worry, I'm not thinking too much on pairings yet… But if I'll admit, I _am_ a big Zutara fan, but if you're not, or even downright _hate_ the pairing, don't get worried or upset yet, I haven't decided what to do, if I do pairings at all, and they haven't even met yet, so you still have a while. (to sound pathetic, please don't stop reading).

EDIT: just clarified how Teo still did Tailoring stuff, the printer just made the peices.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please comment.

NEXT TIME: Kyoshi-4 deals with her past in her own eloquent way: shooting things.


	10. Fire Lord and Kyoshi-4: Break-In

Break-In

Zuko walked to a section of wall next to the case that contained his Fire Lord costume and pressed on a bit of panelling, causing a larger piece to sink in and slide to either side, revealing the contents of the secret closet.

What resembled a black, tighter, and less armored version of his Fire Lord suit, and a blue helmet.

With great care he removed the suit and folded it, placing it in his duffle bag, before turning and staring at the helmet. It was dark, navy blue, the only break in the color being the white that circled the eyes. It was made out of a hardened, ceramic-like material, and save for the eye-holes, would cover the wearer's entire head.

He plucked the helmet from the display case, memories flooding his mind.

 _"Pick up the pace, dude, we ain't all soft like you!"_

 _"So then I says to 'er, 'that ain't fire wood'!"_

 _"It's no problem, Zu, after all, what're best friends for?"_

 _"For once in my life_ I _want to be the front man, not playing second fiddle to some fucking asshole who doesn't understand that power is something to be used."_

 _…Zuko narrowed his eyes at the guy, his idiot grin and wild, shaggy brown hair contrasting with the fact he was quite an experienced soldier, "My name's Zuko." He grasped the guy's outstretched hand._

 _"Cool, cool. Name's Jet, nice to meet you."_

Zuko blinked the memories away and cursed, before sticking the helmet into the bag. The closet door was closed, and the display case was quickly opened so he could retrieve his swords, before he left the bunker.

* * *

 _Three grown men surrounded a twelve-year-old girl._

 _She carefully shifted around, looking at each one, when one behind her took a swing at her._

 _Dodging easily, she swung up the man's arms, locking her legs around his neck and using the momentum of his attack to flip him forwards. As he fell, she twisted and locked her knees differently, a sickening crack emanating from his neck._

 _A second man threw a knife at her while she was still locked onto the dead man, but she easily caught it and threw it back, nailing him in the heart._

 _A bullet grazed her cheek and she whipped around, facing the third man as he pulled the trigger again. She dodged and shot forwards, closing the distance between her and the man, his eyes widening in panic as each shot missed wildly._

 _She chopped at his wrist and wrested the gun from his hand, flipped it around, and sunk a bullet into his head._

 _As she stood there, shaking, a slow clap began, drawing her attention to a glass panel, standing behind which was a tall, lean man. "Good job, Four. I think you earned an extra bit of food today."_

 _She was silent for a second, before she spoke, quiet, shaky, "T-thank you… Long Feng."_

* * *

"Suki!" The redhead lurched into consciousness with the end of her dream and the shout from the hall, "Suki, get up! It's time."

She blinked quickly and regained awareness of her surroundings.

Eight days.

Its been eight days since she showed up on Zuko Ogata's doorstep and asked him to help her destroy the place she was created and raised.

Most of the days had been largely monotonous, spent holed up in the apartment, carefully planning their attack and telling Zuko about her experiences in the Kyoshi Program. There were a few exceptions though. The day after they had visited Teo, Zuko had taken her out to a department store so she wouldn't have to live in his old clothes or her clothes that were beat to shit. And yesterday, they had returned to the workshop, where Teo did a final fitting on her and handed the armor off.

Now, today, they were leaving.

Suki rolled out of bed and pulled open the door, only mildly surprised to see that Zuko was fully dressed, his hair gathered in a bun this time, a duffle bag was slung over either shoulder, she knew they contained their armor and gear, "Sparks, I _just_ got up, give me, like, ten minutes, okay?"

"You were supposed to be up a half hour ago."

"Well, I'm up now. Take what you can, Sparks."

"Will you _stop_ calling me that?"

"I could always call you Hothead, or Flame Pants, or Princey, or-"

"Okay, okay, fine. Just go and get ready, okay?"

"I still don't know why you won't tell me what kind of aircraft we're taking."

Zuko smirked, "I told you, it's a surprise."

* * *

"What the hell." Suki said in amazement, taking in the sight of the aircraft.

The pair were at a private airport about an hour outside the city. It had apparently been the Ogata's private airfield ever since commercial flight was invented, but hadn't been used since Ozai's death. The aircraft sitting just outside the hangar was something she had never seen before.

It resembled a private jet, but sleeker, wider, and solid black. The wings sat further back n the fuselage than usual, and a large arch went from mid-wing to mid-wing, the midpoint supported by the aircraft's tail. While it did have standard engines, it also had a circular propeller embedded into either wing. "What is this?"

A familiar voice spoke up from the inside the hangar, "The _Flare_ , A prototype VTOL craft. VTOL as in vertical-take-off-and-landing." Teo stepped into view, "She's also designed to go super sonic, the arch muffles the sonic boom, and the specialized material she's covered in absorbs electromagnetic waves, preventing radar detection. To top it off she runs off of a nuclear battery, so she never needs refueling, save for coolant. Ogata Industries is working on rolling these puppies out for military use within the next few years."

Suki smiled at Teo, "Hey, Teo."

He nodded, "Suki."

She turned to Zuko, "Why do you have this? Can't you fly?"

"Well, yeah, but it takes a lot of energy to fly long distances, and sometimes I need to bring back something large, and that just makes it difficult to fly, whether or not I can carry it." He explained, marching towards the aircraft and boarding it.

She looked at Teo, "Are you the pilot?"

"No, no, Zuko is. He has his pilot's license and everything. I was just here to make sure the _Flare_ was in tip top shape. I have a fear of heights, you know."

"You said it runs on a nuclear battery?"

"Yep, cold nuclear fusion, first vehicle to do so. Portable generators based on the same technology are also in the works."

"It won't explode, right?"

"Well, I hope not."

She looked at him, an uncharacteristic bit of nervousness twisting her gut.

"I kid, I kid. It's just as safe as a normal power system. If not, safer."

"Sweet." She boarded the aircraft, intent on checking it out.

She found Zuko in the pilot's seat, doing checks on the equipment. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement, and she went to look at the rest of the plane.

It was dreadfully simple, either wall was lined with a row of seats that faced each other. Toilets in the back, storage as well."You know, for a private super-plane, this is really boring."

"It's made for military, what do you want, a limo?" Zuko asked from the front.

Teo popped his head through the door, "Everything good in here?"

"She's good-to-go, Teo." Zuko said, "I'll call you when we're going to start the mission."

"Sure thing, man." He looked at Suki, "See ya, Suki."

"Good bye." He waved at her and ducked out of the cabin, the door quickly closing behind him.

Zuko spoke up from his seat, "Just get comfortable, its a long ride to the bunker."

She laid down across several seats, kicking up her legs and folding her hands behind her head, "Sure thing, Sparks."

* * *

It was two in the morning, and Li was about to keel over from exhaustion. He stifled a yawn and looked over at Mao, who stood at the other side of the door embedded in the small hillside, "This stinks."

An affirmative grunt.

"I mean, we're just guarding a fucking hole in the ground, from apparently _nothing_."

An indifferent grunt.

"They would be bettie off taping a pistol to a dog for guard detail."

A thoughtful, softer grunt.

"Yeah, you're right. I'd kill for something to happen right now."

Of course, it was right then that Li heard a wet *splat* and Mao collapsed to the floor. "M-Mao?!" was all he was able to say before a bullet tore through his head as well.

The area was still for a few minutes before the door opened and six new guards emerged from the bunker, all wearing black body armor, all wielding flashlight-equipped assault rifles. Two immediately checked the downed guards, but even a casual glance could discern that they were dead. There was a few moments of confused silence, before one of the men pointed towards the trees, "Scope." He muttered.

Sure enough, the lights from their rifles was being reflected back by something far in the distance, which had seemingly realized it was spotted, and the reflection disappeared from sight.

The squad captain motioned to two of his men and pointed towards where the glint was, "You two, check that out. Everyone else, form up on the door. It would just be a distraction."

"Yessir."

The two chosen squad members went into the forest, and several tense moments went by before a report came back over the personal radio system their helmets were rigged up with, _"There's no one here sir, but someone was, we've found what seems to be a sniper's nest. There's netting and- hold on… Shi, get a light on-"_ he was suddenly cut off, and Shi's panicked voice picked up, _"Hu's down! The sniper-"_ He was cut off too.

"Ready, men!" The captain said, all squad members quickly readying themselves, bringing up their guns and aiming towards the forest, looking for the telltale glint of a sniper's scope.

However, that was when an entirely different danger- quite literally- dropped in behind them.

A form dressed in a pitch black outfit and a blue mask unsheathed twin blades from the sheathes on its back, and with a few slices, the men were laid out.

Suki loped out from the forest, dressed in her new, dark green body armor, golden gauntlet on her left hand, hair tied back in a pony tail, black make-up surrounding her eyes. Her trusty pistols were holstered at either hip, assault rifle was slung over her shoulder, and a string of modified bombs were attached to her belt.

 **"You're handy with that gun. Most people wouldn't be able to get that kind of consistent accuracy with a semi-automatic."** A voice box embedded inside the blue mask altered Zuko's dry tones into a deep, unsettling monotone.

"That is going to freak me out for as long as you're wearing that."

 **"That's the point. Imagine a mythological spirit of vengeance that speaks like this capturing you and threatening to slice open your throat. It makes quite the impact, apparently."**

"Interesting." She looked at the now-open door, "Shall we continue this later?"

 **"Of course."** Zuko said, and the pair entered the bunker.

* * *

The plan was relatively simple.

The bunker was- head count wise- relatively low-staffed. The guards were the most well-trained in the Earth Empire, and would normally be enough to drive off any normal intruder, but a super-powered ninja and the clone of the greatest assassin-spy ever, were not "normal". So they would just bull their way through what few guards they would encounter. The machine guns guarding Sample Storage and the Laboratory- and the contents within those rooms- would be dealt with by Zuko, while Suki would use the bombs on her belt to destroy the server room, along with all the data those servers contained.

With luck and skill, they would be able to cripple the program entirely, with minimal trouble.

So, with this plan, and their relative confidence, it only figured that as soon as they had taken the entrance elevator down a level, the doors opened and they were greeted by a squad of ten guards, clearly intent on taking the elevator to investigate why the primary guards had not checked in.

Suki's reflexes saved her, her left hand flexing, causing the bright blue energy disc to expand, protecting her from the hail of bullets.

Zuko pulled up, close to her body, and grabbed one of her guns, raising it over the shield and shooting the four guards on the left down, **"Keep the shield up and charge at the last."** Zuko said. Suki complied, and the pair rapidly closed in on the last six. He shoved the gun back in its holster and drew his swords from his back, before jumping over the shield and landing on two of the guards, running them through.

The remaining four spun towards him, and Suki used this moment of distraction to drop her shield and draw her pistols, shooting three of them off the bat, while Zuko delivered a devastating kick to the last's chest, crushing it, and launching him into a wall.

The pair barely had a moments respite before alarms began blaring, and an automated voice chanting _"Intruder Alert"_

Zuko looked at Suki, and though his helmet masked his face, she could _feel_ his irritated stare. "How would I know they had an intruder alarm? I broke _out_ not _in_."

 **"Whatever, this'll make things harder, but just stick to the plan."**

"Got it. Your targets are at the end and on the left. I need to take the stairs down and to the right."

 **"I remember."** They began running down the hallway, **"Good luck**. **"** he muttered before they split up.

* * *

At a sprint, Zuko could hit nearly fifty miles an hour, but that was on long, straight stretches. However, he could still muster a good clip in a hallway. A few guards jumped out from side-rooms, but a punch or elbow with his momentum easily took them out.

He reached the end of the hall quickly, and was about to tear open the door to the laboratory's antechamber, when a loud *clack* filled the air and something impacted Zuko, slamming him against the door. He leapt quickly to his feet and spun around, to see a heavily armored guard standing behind him, wielding- of all things- a heavy, metal mallet in either hand. He was a broad man, as was usual for an Earthen, and sported a thick beard, the rest of his head shaved to cue-ball smoothness.

He stopped a few feet away from Zuko, sliding into a ready pose, raising the hammers, "You ain't getting in there."

Zuko unsheathed his swords and readied himself, **"May I ask, who do I have the honor of fighting?"** It was some of his baked-in Fire Nation honor which prompted this question. Whenever someone so clearly challenged him to a one-on-one duel, usually indicating they were stronger than most, he preferred to know their name, so if ('when', is more accurate, but propriety called for him to think of it as 'if') he won, he could pay proper respects for a worthy opponent.

"My name is Gow."

Testing the waters, Zuko lunged forwards, and gave a purposely open attack. A normal human would not have been able to successfully counter this, even if they were fast enough to recognize the opening, but Gow easily smacked away a sword and swung his hammer into Zuko's chest, smacking him down the hallway.

Zuko stumbled to his feet, winded. _'Okay, so this might be harder than I thought.'_ He thought to himself, before Gow closed the distance and the two became locked in combat.

* * *

Suki had more to go through than Zuko, and since she lacked the superhuman abilities, was unable to take out guards as she ran with the ease that he did, especially since shooting while running was generally very dangerous.

But, despite these limitations, Suki still cut through through the opposition with relative ease, largely relying on the shield gauntlet to let her close the distance on guards who saw her, then her martial arts training to quickly take them out and keep her momentum, continuing her run through the hallways and stair wells until she reached the server room.

Consecutive head-shots took out the on-duty guards, and after a few minutes of waiting for any more guards to come- which totaled zero- she shrugged and walked over to the doors, when the sound of a shotgun being fired halted her in her tracks.

Cautiously, she turned around, dread filling her as she knew there was only one person in the bunker who preferred a shotgun to the standard assault rifles.

A tall man stood there, he had obviously been wearing a suit, and had hurriedly strapped on combat armor over the button-down in place of the suit jacket that he normally wore. His legs went un protected, clad in just the trousers of a pinstripe suit. A cruel smirk decorated his face, complemented by the small mustache and beard, his hair was cropped close, leaving his horseshoe-like bald spot clearly visible. "Hello, Four."

"Long Feng." She snarled.

"Really now, is that any way to address your elders? I raised you, after all, Four, you should show more respect."

"Like hell I do. And my name isn't Four anymore, bastard."

"Don't be ridiculous, Four, and please watch you language. Of course you name is Four. That is your given name after all. Well," he grinned, "Kyoshi-4 technically."

"My name is Suki."

Long Fend laughed, "How adorable. Took the name of the nanny who raised you. How… childish."

"Shut up, asshole."

His grin slipped away and he adjusted his grip on the shotgun, "What did I say about language?" There was a moment of silence, which Long Feng seemed to take as some sort of response, "Well, either way, I'm glad you came back, you save us a lot of time and money in hunting you down. And to think, you actually had slipped of our radar. You could've lived a long, carefree life before we found you again, if at all. But no, you decide to settle some petty vendetta, and you brought the last of the Spirits with you. We always wanted that loose end to be tied up."

"You underestimate him."

"And you, us. By now, your little friend should be facing off against one of the Empire's newest projects. He was here just to be briefed on you, but you walked right in. Its funny how fate works sometimes."

* * *

Gow was far more difficult to fight than Zuko had originally estimated. His shell-like armor caused most of Zuko's sword-swings to glance off, and the man's reflexes were solid enough that swipes aimed at his head were blocked by hammers.

Offensively, while Gow could, of course, smack Zuko around with the hammers directly, he could also crash them together, generating a shockwave of energy that could knock him off of his feet if he wasn't prepared.

Zuko was reaching the end of his rope, he would rather not use his more obvious abilities, that was the point of coming as the Blue Spirit rather than Fire Lord, less chance of an international incident.

Another volley of attacks from the hammers was unleashed, some blows were blocked by his swords, or missed because he dodged, but several impacts landed heavily on Zuko's shoulders and chest.

He staggered away, turning to glare at Gow who was smirking confidently.

Zuko's face twisted into a savage snarl.

This guy was pissing him off.

* * *

Suki felt a momentary pang of worry for Zuko, before squashing it. He could take care of himself, he was the fucking Fire Lord after all, it was herself she needed to worry about at the moment.

"So what? You're just going to fucking kill me?"

"Don't be so negative, Four, you were our finest project. And it will still be a while until your next sister is born, we would love to have you back on board. After, of course, some appropriate _punishment_."

His inflection and the way his eyes briefly traveled up and down her body clued Suki in on what he mean instantly. It was unfortunately predictable, however, she had experienced Long Feng's favorite 'punishment' before. She furrowed her eyebrows and clenched her teeth, attempting to keep the memories at bay.

Suki leveled a glare at the man, "Fuck you."

Damned bastard almost seemed _surprised_ at her response.

"You freaking create me as a weapon, take away the only person who ever genuinely cared about me when I was seven, make me _fight_ grown men for food, and you _rape_ me whenever I lost, and you stand there like I'd gladly just join you again and let you make _another_ slave for you to train? I hate you. I hate you so fucking much. If I could make you experience all the pain and horror I have, I would make you do so a thousand times over."

A sneer curled Long Feng's lips, "You ungrateful _pup_. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't exist. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have the very skills you used to break in here. You are my creation."

"You might have made me, but I am not yours." She said, straightening up and squaring her shoulders.

Long Feng growled and everything seemed to move in slow motion for Suki. She could practically see his finger slowly squeeze the trigger, but as he did, she flexed her hand and brought up her arm, the shield blocking the pellets just in time. She marched forwards as Long Feng shot twice more, before she knocked away his firing arm and took the gun from him. She spun it around and took four quick shots. One in either shoulder, knocking him back, then one in either knee, bringing him down. He gasped in pain as he stared down the barrel of his own gun.

Suki smiled at him, "Since I can't make you experience all that I have though, I guess this'll have to do."

One last shot, and Long Feng's head was reduced to mush.

* * *

A sword slice left a long cut on Gow's cheek.

A hammer impacting just the right place cracked one of Zuko's ribs.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, both tired from several minutes of intense combat. Each sized each other up one last time before they both lunged forwards, their weapons locking as the pair struggled for an advantage.

Then, it happened.

Zuko shifted just right, and his swords slid down the hammers.

Gow screamed as the hammers fell to the floor, his hands still clutching them.

Zuko shifted back, and swung both his blades, and the screaming stopped, Gow's head falling in a different direction from his body.

Zuko whipped his swords a few times, before whipping them off on his pant legs, cleaning as much blood off as he could before sheathing the swords.

He put his hands together into the Fire Nation flame and bowed deeply, "Go peacefully, Gow. You were a strong warrior, and a worthy opponent."

He collected the man's hammers, though, they needed to be examined, no normal hammers should've been able to survive the impacts they imparted, let alone generate god damn shockwaves when clapped together.

Zuko walked back to the laboratory's vestibule doors, and smashed them open with Gow's own hammers. Immediately, the guardian machine guns opened fire, but two claps with the hammers solved that, and the second door experienced the same fate as the first. He looked around the laboratory, and at the door that was labeled 'Sample Storage'. He grinned and hefted the hammers, "Time to go to work."

* * *

Suki started long and hard at the body in front of her.

She thought it was probably the first time she legitimately enjoyed killing someone, and that feeling scared her.

After a minute of blinking, she dropped the shotgun and turned back to the server doors, unhooking one of the bombs strapped to her belt.

* * *

Several minutes- and a few more guard and a very confident scientist- later, Zuko met Suki in front of the elevator. He saw an odd, haunted look on her face. He had never pushed for her entire experience in the bunker, even though he saw her being purposely vague about a lot of her life. He could only assume she had encountered someone who had featured largely- and negatively- in her life here.

 **"You all right?"**

"Y-yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just ran into a little trouble. The bombs are planted, though. How'd you fare?"

 **"Everything's smashed, sliced, and burning."**

And exhausted smile crept onto Suki's face, "We did it."

Zuko nodded and led her onto the elevator.

Once at the surface, they started walking towards where they landed the _Flare_ , when a slight tremor through the ground startled them.

They looked at each other, before turning back to the bunker door. Smoke began slowly drifting from it.

Suki shuddered, "The bombs went off… finally."

Zuko pulled off his helmet, and looked at her, "So that's it?"

"Yeah, seems like it is."

* * *

The flight back home was long and quiet, both occupants of the _Flare_ performing their coping mechanisms for killing. For Zuko, it was quiet meditation, while Suki meticulously disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled her guns, only to do the whole process over again. She found it oddly therapeutic.

An hour after turning on the autopilot and beginning his mediation, Zuko got up and walked to the back of the airplane, nabbing a water bottle from a cabinet, he looked at Suki, who was crouched on the floor, attending to her guns, "You want one?"

She looked up, "Uhhhh, sure."

He grabbed one and tossed it to her, she caught it easily and cracked it open, taking a long drink. She looked him over, and decided to breach a topic that had been weighing on her mind since she saw his helmet, but had been shoved aside in favor of the mission. "So… you're the last Spirit, huh?"

Zuko stiffened, then nodded, "Yeah. yeah, I am."

"How… how was that a better choice than going as the Fire Lord?"

"Officially, the Blue Spirit is a rogue asset, something I asked to be fabricated after the Spirits' last mission, to protect myself from any interested parties. The Empire knows this, so they can't blame the Fire Nation, even if they decide to draw attention to their cloning facility's destruction."

Another bit of silence, as more water was sipped, "What happened? To the Spirits that is? I was tutored about you guys, you were _legendary_ , but then two years ago…" she trailed off, seeing the dark expression on Zuko's face. Normally, she would bulled on, but the combination of the day's events lead her to be more subdued than usual.

Zuko took a breath, then began speaking.

"As I'm sure you know, the Spirits were formed nine years ago in an experiment to see how effective classical ninja training could be in the modern day. They picked the best of the best, people who were not only in tip-top physical shape, but also intelligent and capable of acting competently in stealth missions. We ended up being the Fire Nations' most lethal covert ops. force, performing several assassinations and take-downs of various terrorists and international criminals.

"In the last two years of operation, one of our most common enemies was Black Flame, which was only in its infancy when we started off, but quickly proved to be a legitimate threat, employing incredibly dangerous individuals and training them to be even more lethal."

Zuko fidgeted and played with his water bottle a bit before continuing, "One of my teammates, Jao "Jet" Jiang, the Grey Spirit, he was my second. Well, I mean, I was pretty much the field commander, taking orders directly from the real commander, Jee, and Jet was my second. My friend. He was a lot like you, intense, and much more sociable and outgoing than me. He was the 'wise guy' to my 'straight man'. We were a team. Yeah, he was always more aggressive than I was, but thats why I was there, we complemented each other. I, uh, I digress, though. Jet, it turned out Jet was poached by Black Flame, they appealed to his aggression, his love of power and using it. He began passing intelligence to them, letting them keep a step ahead of us."

Zuko's normally stoic look turned remorseful, "Then our last mission occurred. Jet set us up, and every single Spirit was killed when we were infiltrating a Black Flame base on Whale Tail island. I only survived by luck, one of the other Spirits, Red, broke radio silence to warn me, just before he was killed by Jet himself. I made a break for it, going to the extraction point and signaling the helicopter, but Jet got there first."

The memories engulfed Zuko as he spoke.

* * *

 _Zuko stood at the edge of a cliff, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the helicopter, when a presence caused him to swing around._

 _There stood Jet, unmasked, a smug grin on his face, pointing a gun right at him._

 _"You," Zuko whispered, staring in horror at the man he had considered his best friend. "Why?"_

 _"'Why?' You have the fuckin' balls to ask me 'WHY?'" He shouted, "You get_ everything _you fucking want, but I have to bite, claw, and fight for everything I have! And not only that, but you're weak! You don't have what it takes. You believe there's such a thing as mercy on a battlefield, that everyone in the base of our enemy's_ isn't _an enemy! For once in my life_ I _want to be the front man, not playing second fiddle to some fucking asshole who doesn't understand that power is something to be used."_

 _Zuko shouted back at him, "Get your head out of your ass! You know everything about my life, but you have to balls to say I get everything I want?" He sneered, "If you honestly believe that, Jet, then its no wonder you joined Black Flame. Only they regularly employ selfish cowards."_

 _Jet raised the gun, but Zuko shot forwards, punching his once-best-friend in the chest. He felt the cracks of several ribs breaking, before Jet's body flew limply into the trees of the island._

 _It was then that the helicopter finally appeared, pulling to a hover next to the cliff._

 _With a regretful look towards where Jet's body lay, Zuko boarded the helicopter._

* * *

Zuko shifted uncomfortably after describing the confrontation. "After that, I was debriefed by Jee, and handed in my resignation, asking for them to say I went rogue, before returning home. When I got back home, I decided to become the Fire Lord, and use my powers to help people. Jet, in a way, was right. I was afraid to use my power, not in the way he meant anyway, he was clueless about my true abilities, but I decided to put them to use and help people, especially by destroying Black Flame."

The air was still after he finished his story, then, to the shock of both Zuko and Suki, she got up and hugged him. After a tentative moment, his arms wrapped around her in return.

Suki whispered into his ear, "You, are an amazing man, Zuko. And I am so sorry, that you were betrayed like that. Anyone would be lucky to call you a friend. I mean, look at all the shit you did for me? You bought me armor, clothing, gave me a place to sleep, food, and you helped me stop a freaking cloning project. And I'm some shitty girl who you pulled in from the streets."

Zuko tightened his eyes for a moment. Aside from his uncle, Suki was the first person since his mother to offer such words of kindness. He made up his mind. "Hey, Suki. I, uh, just wanted to let you know, you can stay with me and uncle for a while. The guest room is never used anyway, and we always have plenty of food, and well, you're the first real friend I've had in a while, and it'd be really shitty of me to just let you wander off, but- uh, you don't have to stay if you don't want to, I mean, I can see why someone would like roaming the-"

"Shush," Suki said, pulling back and putting a finger on his lips, "Jeez, I don't think I've ever heard you speak so informally before. Yeah, I'll stay Sparks. I'm not going to ditch my best friend."

Zuko brightened, and smiled, "Best friend… thank you, Suki."

After another minute of the embrace, Suki pulled back, "Ugh, enough with the mushy stuff for now. Let's go home, I need to sleep."

"Yeah… let's go home."

That night, the two of them would get the best night of sleep either of them ever had.

* * *

A/N: Whoaaaaaaa that was long.

But I think its good.

Jeez, after Five thousand, six hundred-something words, I HOPE its good.

So, I WAS going to write more about the intervening time, to flesh out their relationship more, but I feel that between this chapter and the last two, you should get a good feel about it. Its just over the eight days, they closer and more comfortable with each other. Plus, I didn't want to write four chapters about these two in a row, this is a collection about all these characters, the others need light too (though, I will fully admit that Zuko is my favorite character, so he'll be appearing more often than not, so he will likely have the most chapters dedicated to him, or featuring him as a side-character).

Okay, so did I potentially waste perfectly good characters with Gow and Long Feng? Sure, but I really couldn't write a way where both lived through their encounters with Zuko and Suki. I will admit though, that someone else will pick up those hammers, and Long Feng's specter will haunt Suki, considering the abuse he put her through (did I use rape as a way to villains him more? Sure. is it cliched? Sure. Do I think its in character? Yes. Long Feng gave off creepy vibes, and I forget which fic is is that insinuates it, but theres the idea that the Joo Dees were sexually abused by the Dai Lee, and I subscribe to that idea, so it transferred here with Long Feng).

Zuko's an honorable guy, so if someone challenges him to a duel and gives him a good, honorable fight, he will not hold any true grudge against them and will pay respects.

I'm sorry if the end of the mission felt kind of anti-climactic, but thats what happens when you put the worlds best assassin and a super-powered ninja up against people, it becomes a curb-stoma battle except for one or two cases if they run into someone with equal skill.

So, Zuko's past. After he turned eighteen, he joined the Fire Nation marines, as he felt restless and unfulfilled working at his uncle's teashop. The Fire Nation saw his skill and that of a few other guys, and decided to form the Spirits (who were all color-coded, if you couldn't tell) as an experiment.

About Jet… I have to admit I really don't like Jet. In canon, he was such a racist and fanatic that he was willing to kill off an entire town just to kill a minor contingent of Fire Nation soldiers. That's like, really fucked up. And yeah, Zuko and Iroh might have been Fire Benders (which Jet didn't know for sure), but for all intents and purposes, they were harmless refugees, but Jet decided to stalk and attack them anyway. Yes, Azula and Ozai are worse, but I think what annoys me is that we're supposed to forgive Jet despite all the shitty stuff he did. Sure, Zuko did some bad shit, but he was never shitty about it, even when he was a villain, he had enough vulnerability that you could see there was a person hidden under there, while Jet was just a ball of rage and racism. Plus, I really, really dislike how manipulative he is. So yeah, he's a villain in this universe… and still alive. I have plans for Jet.

Finally, I just want to state that Zuko and Suki are going to be just friends, and theres no confusion on either side about this state. A hug is a big thing for both of them, as Zuko hasn't felt love (not romantic love necessarily, just _love_ ) from anyone besides his Uncle since his mother died, and Suki has never had a family besides the nanny she named herself for. And now, Suki's living with Zuko.

That seems to be it…

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Comment below!

Next Time: While our heroes work to maintain the light, there are many who wish to spread darkness. It is time to focus on the wicked Kaminari and her friends.

[Just minor edits to grammar and stuff]


	11. Machinations

Machinations

 ** _Wilderness of the Earthen State of Zhang Jin, Central Earthen Continent_**

Haru sprinted as fast as he could through the forest, avoiding trees when he could, but in some cases, just plowing through them, his body's strength and speed allowing him to turn otherwise immovable trees into splinters.

Under normal circumstances, he would've taken a lot more care, his family had instilled a deep sense of respect for nature in him, and he felt terrible as he destroyed decades-old trees.

But these were far from normal circumstances.

He broke through the tree line, and came to a screeching halt as he realized that the ground dropped off a few feet in front of him. He cursed as he realized that he had managed to get turned around and end up pinned against the drop of the Great Divide.

As tough as he was, he doubted he could survive a drop nearly a mile straight down.

A rustling noise caused him to swing around, just as a figure dressed in black emerged from the tree line, its casual stride concealing the fact that it had been easily keeping pace with Haru, who (by his estimate anyway) had been hitting nearly thirty miles per hour.

The woman- for, it was a woman- was stunningly beautiful. Flawless, alabaster-like skin, contrasted with hair the color of pitch. Her eyes were almost luminescent, softly glowing gold. She was dressed in a pitch black suit, which made her seem more suited in a conference room than hunting down someone in the Earthen wilderness.

Haru gulped, and raised his fists.

She just laughed, "Really, Haru? You think you can fight me? Adorable."

"D-don't underestimate me." He cursed the stammer.

"If you honestly think you can fight me, I doubt you would've run away."

He couldn't respond, he just stared at her, fear coursing through him.

The woman examined her nails in faux-disinterest, "I don't know why you're resisting this so much, Haru. You'd have a place at Black Flame. With your strength, you're guaranteed a sergeant ranking right off the bat."

"I told you, I don't want that! And when I said no, you tried to kill me!"

"Don't be overdramatic, Haru."

"What would you call burning down my house?"

"Motivation." She said, an irritated expression crossing her face as she leveled a stare at him, "You don't understand. You need us, we need you."

"I don't need you."

"Not what you said last night."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I didn't know who you were."

What looked like guilt flashed through the woman's eyes, but her eyes narrowed before Haru could be sure of it.

"Don't be naive. Sex is sex. There are veritable industries built around it. Don't act as if it was anything special."

"You tricked me! I thought you were someone else."

Once again, that look- that _guilt_ flashed on her face, before she steeled herself and continued speaking, "Listen, Haru. I'll be honest. I would rather not kill you. Physically, you're one of the strongest empowered humans we've ever come across. You could do great things! You wouldn't be tied to some backwater town, helping farmers pull their trucks from the mud, or tossing hay bales around. You could do something for the world."

"I told you, no. I know about Black Flame, you're a bunch of terrorists. You just abuse your power. I use my strength to help people around town because I know that that is helpful. That can't be argued that its somehow harmful to society. I _like_ helping the trucks from the mud and stacking hay bales. It make me feel good, something _you_ won't ever understand!" Haru said, pointing at her.

She stared at him, before a look of such guilt and sadness took over her face, and she looked away.

There was a few seconds of silence, when she suddenly broke it, "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I just… this is the life I know… I thought… I thought maybe… we could be together if you just joined. I wish… I wish I could just leave Black Flame. Leave it, and stay with you."

Haru was stunned. He would've never guessed that she felt such a way. It really threw him, but he couldn't deny that she looked so sad and broken. He walked forwards, "Hey, hey. Look at me."

She turned around slowly, and he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Maybe… you can do that."

"What?"

"I have money saved up, we could just pack up and find a secluded corner of the world, and just live out the rest of our lives. I mean, I wouldn't mind spending at least _some_ time with you. You're nice… when you want to be anyway."

She blinked a few times before her hands snaked around his neck and brought him into a brain-melting kiss.

The kiss was hot, passionate, he barely noticed one hand trailing down his body, as the other latched onto his shoulder.

…barely noticed the free hand stop on his chest.

The kiss broke when he felt a surge of pain emanating from his chest. He looked down to see her fingers buried inches deep into his flesh. He stared at them in shock before his eyes crawled up and looked at her face.

A cruel smile marred her face, and it only grew as she took in his shocked expression.

"'Poor little me, I just want to be free from the 'evil' people I work for and run off with the hunk who wants to 'save' me'. Its amazing how something so disgustingly cliche works so well."

"W-wh-why?"

"'Why?' I believe that's obvious, poor, stupid Haru. You're dangerous. You wouldn't join Black Flame, so you needed to be removed." She laughed, then spoke in a fake, sugar-sweet voice, "Don't feel bad, sweetie, I've done this loads of times. You're not the only poor fool who turned down my offer." She traced a finger along his cheek, "Just the latest." She placed her free hand back onto his shoulder and tightened her grip, shoving her other hand as hard as she could into his chest. She felt fest give away, and after a second, she could see her own, blood-covered hand emerge from his back.

His body shook and shuddered for a few seconds, before he fell limp. She pushed him off of her hand and shook off the blood.

Azula Ogata, second-in-command of the Black Flame, retrieved a phone from her pocket with her clean hand. She tapped in a number, and waited for the call to be picked up. On the second ring, it was.

 _"Azula."_

"Father."

 _"Well?"_

"He refused to the very end. I'm looking at his corpse now."

 _"Hmph. Unfortunate, but, not entirely unexpected. Either way, it's time for you to return. Someone…_ interesting _has shown up on our doorstep, and I would like you to meet her and give your opinion."_

"Who is she?"

 _"A National woman, with a thoroughly impressive list of abilities, which you will be able to see in full upon your return. As for her name, that would be P'li."_

"I will return post-haste, Father."

He made a pleased noise, _"Good-bye, Azula."_

"Good-bye, Father," she managed to say before he hung up.

Azula turned her golden eyes on Haru's limp corpse. "Pathetic," she muttered, before raising her hand and unleashing a torrent of fiery blue energy, incinerating the body within a few seconds.

She turned away from the ash pile, crouched down a bit, before jumping into the air. Blue fire blasted from her feet and hands, carrying her away into the sky.

The area fell into silence.

Ashes blew through the wind.

* * *

A/N: Eyy, now this is a chapter that went through at least three variations. The initial two were based around the idea of Azula strolling through the Black Flame base and doing some bullshit with Mai and Ty Lee, but I hated it, and made this instead.

Ah, poor Haru. I considered trying to make him do some stuff, but I couldn't think of a good enough power or story, so I just decided to make him Azula's victim. Sorry, man.

And, Azula. What I find interesting about Azula is that, for the most part, she seems more of a talker than a fighter. She largely just uses manipulation to get people into situations where she can just defeat them with minimal or no effort (see: Long Feng, where she just screwed him over and he gave up, and Aang, where the situation she put him in forced him into the Avatar state and she defeated him in one shot). Combined with the fact that she clearly likes playing with her victims, she pulls a whole performance to trick Haru into letting her kill him easily. Because she is a terrifying, horrible human being. She honestly was manipulating him from the start, she set up everything (being nice to him, sleeping with him, setting his house on fire, chasing him) to instill a sense of both fear and attachment in him, so he would either A) join Black Flame out of worry for himself and attachment for her or B) be vulnerable to her so she could kill him with minimal effort.

Gosh, she's great.

Yeah, P'Li is here, as a part of Black Flame. She's actually taking the place of Combustion Man's initial role, as the "sniper" of what will be Azula's personal team. I decided that I would rather have P'Li than Combustion Man, for a few reasons. Though, I will say that she will have mechanical prosthetics to be a further homage to Combustion Man. As for the rest of the Red Lotus… they're floating around (get it? Because Zaheer can FLY! Aren't I funny?) and will show up later. Zaheer is slated to show up in the next Aang chapter, actually (which I REALLY hope is better than the first, ugh, I hate that one).

In case you're wondering, the name of the Zhang Jin state is a combination of those two annoying tribes from The Great Divide. Ugh, hate that episode, nothing happens, and nothing interesting is learned… except that there's a giant canyon filled with NIGHTMARE SPIDER BUGS. Which sounds way cooler than it turned out to be. Anyway, Zhang Jin is aligned with the Empire, and borders the Divide.

That's about it…

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

NEXT TIME: The Painted Lady finds a very old evil lurking in the Southern Water Tribe, in the form of the Night Witch.


	12. Painted Lady: Night Witch

Night Witch

Katara was out on patrol as the Painted Lady when she found the first victim.

It was nearly midnight, and she was on patrol in the sketchier part of Southern City. A system of alleyways and poorly-lit streets boarded by the projects that served as the main hub of crime in the city. It was, obviously, her most frequent haunt.

Most of the time, the things she stumbled upon were largely mundane; muggings and break-ins were the most common thing she caught. The occasional attempted murder or rape broke up those, but they were harder to catch, as they largely happened behind closed doors, not on the streets. Bodies and victims… she could only call the police for help before trying to find the perpetrators.

While it was a very dirty job, up until tonight, everything Katara had seen was "normal". It was disturbing, but it wasn't anything that urban street crime didn't turn out.

So Katara was understandably startled when the Lady registered something similar to shock, and felt their shared body- well, cloud of mist, at the time- shift and travel down a seemingly random ally.

 _"What? What is it?"_

 _"I sense something, well, the remnants of something. I'm unsure as to what it is… but it's dark."_

Katara gave an affirmation and allowed the Lady to "steer" them to their destination.

Sharing a body felt odd, really, really odd. At least when she was just _Katara_ she had full control of her body, the Lady herself relegated to just a voice in her head. As the Painted Lady… the line became really muddled. It was hard to tell who was in control most of the time, and while their minds were largely separate, high-stress situations, combat ones especially, caused their minds to weave closer together and lose their borders.

So while Katara was pretty sure that the Lady was driving, she was only "pretty" sure.

Soon, a body came into view, tucked into a nook between two dumpsters. The Painted Lady reconstituted- skin still purple, striped with red, clad in a flowing red dress- and stalked over to the body.

A wave of near-confusion washed over the spirit-human, as she regarded the corpse. It was just… _wrong_. It was so emaciated that- short of reaching into the filthy pants- it was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman, the skin was pulled so tightly to the skeleton it resembled a skeleton, and the hair had seemingly fallen out- clumps of it stuck to the corpse's clothes. To top it off, the neck was slashed open, a dried flow of blood stained the front of the body's clothing and the ground it lay on.

The Painted Lady crouched down and held a hand over the body, feeling the energies surrounding it.

 _"This is something dark,_ unnatural. _"_ The Lady thought.

 _"What happened to them?"_ Katara asked.

 _"_ Him. _This is a man. And someone… sucked his life energy- their chi- from him. All of it. I've never seen anything like this before."_

 _"How-"_

 _"It's very old, very dark spiritual magic. The idea that someone has rediscovered this is… distributing. It's a technique for furthering a mortal's life, stealing another's chi to extend your own life. As you can see, the consequences are gruesome. The slashed throat… a mercy. The victims can live in this state, not for long, but it's a torturous existence."_

The Painted Lady stood up and drifted away, back towards the street. A payphone wasn't far away- Southern City was slow to modernize- and she made a quick call to the police, notifying them of the body.

As soon as she got confirmation, she dissolved into mist and took off.

 _"So what does this mean?"_ Katara asked.

 _"This technique… changes the user. The combination of such dark magic, and absorbing life energy makes them unnaturally strong and fast. Positive emotions, like happiness and love are lost, while hatred and rage are stoked. They become addicted to this power, the life energy that brings it, and just keep attacking people. They become a_ Jiangshi. _That is what is in the city. How difficult it will be to find them will… vary. The older someone gets through this technique, the more frequent their "feedings" will be, and the more people they will have to feed on. If they're 'young', well, we likely have lost them, for the first few decades, they can get away with only one person every twenty years or so, depending on the victim's age. I hope its an older_ Jiangshi _, more frequent feeding means that it will be easier to catch. As long as we are within… I'd say, about a kilometer, of an attack, I will be able to feel it, and we can stop them,"_

 _"If it's an older one… I think Dad will be able to help."_

 _"Your father doesn't-"_

 _"I don't mean directly. If we're lucky, this_ Jianshi _thing is a Tribesman, and has been sitting around here for a while. If that's the case, then more of these bodies have probably been found over the years, and just went as unexplained. A new one would cause the files to be dragged back up, and dad will probably be all over it. He's a sucker for weird stuff. He would probably make a whole evidence board with string and a map and stuff. I know we can turn invisible, so we could sneak into the station, and, between that and your spiritual stuff we can probably figure out_ where _the_ Jiangshi _is, and lurk around until they attack again. Then_ BAM! _We nab them."_

 _"A good plan, Katara."_

 _"Of course, it is,_ I _came up with it."_

* * *

Hakoda pinched the bridge of his nose as he stared at the board.

Back when he was a detective, he was well-known around the precinct for his "Board of Crazy", a whiteboard he kept in his office that particularly weird of difficult cases went up on. While he was now the chief, no longer an active investigator, the board still came out whenever something really weird crossed his desk.

And this was definitely _weird_.

It had been four days since the body was found. And while it had been identified- Houjin Wen, a no-name street thug- they were no closer to figuring out _how_ this was done.

Wen had been seen hearty and healthy just hours before his shriveled corpse was found, having a grand old time at one of the many strip clubs that resided in that side of the city.

According to the lab, based on several blood tests and a physical examination, Wen's condition suggested several weeks- if not, _months_ of living on only the barest amount of nutrition possible. He was almost literally just skin and bones. The neck wound was likely done by a common kitchen knife. No foreign finger prints or anything.

Between the bizarreness of the case, and the lack of any solid leads, Hakoda had dove into the archives for anything like this, printing out all the files he found.

Twenty-two such bodies found, over a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years. The first few bodies were found decades apart, but as time went on, they became more and more frequent. The last two "events" had two bodies each.

Aside from the same condition and cause of death, only ethnicity was constant: all were either National or part-national. Age, class, gender, sexuality… all of that was inconsistent. And with such a long frame of time… a common ethnicity wasn't enough.

He stared at the map, and the red dots marking where the bodies were found, for a few minutes before something clicked.

"The Village." he mumbled.

While the very first body was within the oldest section of Southern City, all the others were distributed throughout the city, with a very clear radius around the Village. He examined the file on the original body.

 _Kai Fa_ , the file read.

Hakoda tapped his fingers, and went back to his desk, waking up his computer.

He searched through housing records that city hall had, and- thankfully- eventually found something.

Sure enough, Kai Fa once owned a house in the Village, a hundred and fifty years ago. And after he died… a Tribal woman named Hama Inupiat… and her descendants, all women. No husbands listed. Current occupant was one Malina Inupiat.

 _"Okay,"_ he thought, _"Weird, but not_ too _weird yet."_

He tapped his finger, and followed his gut. He pulled up a search engine and put in "Inupiat". He read through the various bit and pieces he could find quickly. Apparently, the Inupiat family had been a mildly successful fishing family, which had made its home in a small village to the east of Southern. A little over two centuries ago, that generation of Inupiat had only produced women. With no men to carry on the name, the Inupiats had quietly vanished.

While he found it mildly interesting, he was about to give up on this thread when he stumbled onto an old marriage announcement, one dating nearly fifty years before the family died off.

 _"Hama Inupiat to marry Lee Chen"_

Hakoda could feel an itch start at the back of his neck. Old Pakku had hammered it into his head that there's no such thing as coincidences. As downright weird this was, he knew it was a lead.

He needed to talk to the only living Inupiat, he knew they had something to do with this.

He grabbed his coat, stalking out of his office, "UJARAK!" He shouted.

The beat cop suddenly appeared, "Yessir?"

"You're coming with me, we're investigating a lead on the Wen case."

"Where're we going?"

"The Village, I'll tell you the address when we're in the car."

* * *

Katara slammed her textbook shut upon completing her assignment. She had been swamped for the past few days by the schoolwork her nighttime activities had caused to pile up.

The curriculum was crushing, but Katara had always been a conscientious worker, putting all of her effort into everything she did. While she was certainly short on sleep, she had managed to complete her work, ready to go and check on her dad to see if he had figured anything out.

She felt a little bad, using her dad without his knowledge, but she wasn't the best at crime-scene type investigations. Ask her to figure out how someone was killed? Easy. Ask her to determine _why_ they were killed? That was a mammoth of a different color, something her dad and Sokka were better at. And, it wasn't exactly like the Painted Lady could just stroll right into Police Headquarters and ask for details in an investigation. She was a vigilante, a criminal. Her dad would try to arrest her in a heartbeat.

Katara turned to the window, closing her eyes. She felt that odd 'bubble' inside her mind, and prodded it until it popped.

She felt the energy fill her, and her body begin to change.

Skin turning purple, striped with red, teeth sharpening, eyes turning a glowing turquoise, hair vanishing, and becoming cloud-like. Her clothes loosened and turned bright red, morphing into a flowing red dress.

"Ready?" She whispered.

 _"Ready."_ The Lady answered.

The Painted Lady dissolved into mist and snaked through her dorm room window.

The flight to Police Headquarters was quick, and she remained as inconspicuous as she possibly could, loosening her mist until she was more akin to moist air than a cloud of water vapor.

It took a few moments, but before long, she found an office with her dad's conspiracy board in it.

To her surprise, the room was empty, and judging by his coat's absence, he wasn't even in the building. Odd, he rarely left the building unless it was an emergency, and while she could hear distant sirens, none were in a large enough concentrations that she would call it an "emergency". The mist slipped in through the slightly opened window.

 _"This doesn't make any sense."_ Katara thought, as her shared body condensed from mist to corporeal. _"Dad wouldn't just_ leave _in the middle on an investigation. He's way too caught up in this stuff."_

It took a few more minutes of looking around until the Painted Lady's eyes rested on the computer screen, and the prompt for a password that sat in the middle. Her fingers reached out, the Lady's wariness of technology causing a brief hesitation before Katara's casual confidence with it took over. With only a moment of thought, she typed in the one password she knew her dad used all the time.

 _KyaKataraAndSokka_

The computer unlocked.

She scanned the open window, which appeared to be a wedding announcement from ver two hundred years ago, before tentatively grasping the mouse and clicking through the other tabs.

 _"Wait,"_ The Lady thought, just as Katara was about to click away from a tab detailing some house in the Village. _"look."_ She pointed at a name, "Hama Inupiat". _"Go back to the first image. The wedding."_

A click back.

 _"The same woman."_ The Lady pointed at the name in the announcement. _"She is the_ Jiangshi _."_

 _"That's no evidence, two people in the same family can have-"_ Her train of thought was cut short when a name on the board caught her eye. _"'Kai Fa'? Wait…."_ a click back to the housing page.

The previous owner of the house that Hama bought was also named Kai Fa.

Triumph from the Lady was almost immediately hampered by a surge of horror from Katara.

 _"Dad… he… he probably went to talk to Hama- or, Malina, as she seems to be calling herself. He went right to her."_

 _"That is bad. She is likely still hungry."_

 _"We have to go. Now."_

 _"Agreed."_

* * *

Hakoda walked to the door of the old brownstone house, and knocked. He had left Ujarak- and the police cruiser he had taken here- stationed on the curb, in case something went wrong.

After a few seconds, the door creaked open, and he almost choked a bit.

Malina Inupiat bore a striking resemblance to his poor, dead Kya, from the narrow build, the long, nearly waist-length hair, and the defiant, nearly aggressive stance she took while looking at him.

He took a second before getting back on track, "Miss Inupiat?"

"Yeah?"

"Chief Hakoda Yupik, of the Southern City Police Department. May I come in? I have a few questions."

She regarded him, before nodding sharply, "Okay."

The home was cozy, sparsely decorated, but nice. However, he felt like he was entering somewhere he didn't belong, where he wasn't _supposed_ to be.

Malina led him to the kitchen, and motioned for him to sit down, "Want anything? Coffee? Prune juice?"

"No, thanks." His eyes roamed around the kitchen, before briefly resting on the block filled with kitchen knives.

He suppressed a shudder, there was no reason to suspect her, yet. Not legally, anyway.

Didn't calm him down.

"What're your questions about?"

Hakoda steeled his resolve and turned towards Malina, who was now sitting, "It has to do with a series of murders, ones that seemed to start when your ancestor- Hama Inupiat- moved in here. I know you and your family probably have nothing to do with this-" even though his instincts were just screaming that something was wrong "-but I was curious if you even heard stories, or something."

Malina seemed perfectly confused about the situation, her face the picture of amused bewilderment.

Almost too perfect.

Pakku always said to trust your gut too…

She finally responded, "Well… no… I don't know… anything about murders… you said Hama-?"

"The first victim we have on record, Kai Fa-" he didn't miss the slight flinch in the woman's left eye, "-Used to live in this house. After he died, Hama moved in. You know anything about that?"

"Well… I think I heard something about how the Ash-face had a _problem_ with Hama, but I don't know. But really, what's changed?"

Hakoda suppressed a scowl at such casual racism. While, granted, the Fire Nation and Water Tribes had a historically strained relationship, he was always surprised as to how hard his fellow Tribesmen held on to old prejudices. "Can you remember _anything_ about this 'problem'?"

Malina looked up for a second, thinking, "I think he screwed her over in a business deal or something. I don't remember, it was a hundred and fifty years ago."

Hakoda blinked. Sure, she could've meant that the story was a hundred and fifty years old, but that phrasing was… odd.

He went on, anyway, "So, he did aggravate her, in some way? Could she have been-"

"Please, how would she have been responsible? It's not like she had abilities. And how would she still be around, anyway?"

"Why would she need abilities?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'it's not like she had abilities', what does that have to do with anything?"

"The… corpses… aren't they…"

"I never said anything about the condition of the corpses, Ms. Inupiat."

A gleam of panic shot through the woman's eyes, and she just started stammering.

Hakoda stood up, taking out a pair of handcuffs, "Ms. Inupiat, I'm placing you under arrest for connection to the murders of twenty-two-"

He was cut off my Malina suddenly surging into motion, charging at him. She grasped the hand holding the cuffs and twisted. He felt something in his wrist break, and he let out a grunt of pain as he fell to his knees.

"Insolent, little _fool,_ " the woman said, "You just had to pry, didn't you? You should've been smart and just let a poor Tribeswoman be." She snarled at him.

"Why the Nationals?" He grunted through the pain. "You're responsible for all of them, somehow, aren't you? Why kill only Nationals?"

A wicked smile emerged on Malina's- Hama's?- face, "You're dumber than you look, Chief Yupik. I'm not some idiotic comic book villain. I won't monologue, giving you enough time to figure a way out." She placed a hand on his forehead, "Now be still, this apparently hurts."

He was going to make a grab for his gun, when it seemed like the air folded in on itself right next to Hama, condensing into the form of the Painted Lady.

* * *

The Painted Lady shot forwards like a bullet, tackling Hama off of Hakoda and carrying the _Jiangshi_ through a wall.

She rose to a standing position, and looked down at the several hundred year-old woman, "Hama Inupiat, I am the Painted Lady, protector of humanity, opponent of evil. You have committed many crimes, _Jiangshi_ , and I am here to stop you."

Hama just laughed, and leapt to her feet, "I've read about you, Painted Lady. You're a quite the minor spirit to tout such titles."

The Painted Lady narrowed her eyes, knowing the _Jiangshi_ was just baiting her. "Just because I am a minor spirit, doesn't mean I am not a threat."

Hama sneered, then shot forwards, attempting to land a flurry of punches on the spirit-woman.

The Painted Lady dodged backwards quickly, for the few punches she couldn't avoid, she briefly allowed her body to turn into mist.

A punch went wide, and the spirit-woman saw her chance, slipping inside Hama's reach and slamming her palm into the _Jiangshi's_ chest. She staggered back, and the Painted Lady followed up with a powerful kick to the side of her head.

She floated as she pressed her advantage, kicking and punching Hama back.

Suddenly, one of her fists were caught, and Hama grinned. The _Jiangshi_ swung her fist, connecting with the Painted Lady's head.

It was a ringing blow, signaling that it was time to bring out the higher-level abilities.

The Painted Lady flicked her arms, transforming both of them into long, whips of pure water.

Hama lunged, only for a loud 'crack!' to ring out as one of the water-whips sliced across her cheek. She leapt back, unsure, as the spirit-woman began to advance yet again, swinging and lashing her whips.

The woman backed away fearfully, eyeing the whips. Spying an opening, she lunged.

The Painted Lady flew straight up, allowing her opponent to pass right under her. She spun around and shot out a whip, causing it to lash around Hama's throat. The other one lashed around the woman's waist. In a quick movement, she flew upwards, pulled on the whips to swing them around, then dropped back down, while keeping the whips moving.

As the Painted Lady's feet made contact with the ground, Hama did as well, but with considerably more force. The _Jiangshi_ went limp instantly.

She floated over and looked at her opponent.

Unconscious.

She tilted her head as she began to debate what to do with Hama. One part of her felt like she should kill her, to eliminate the threat she poses. But the other part of her objected fervently, that this would be something to regret.

"Is she alive?"

The Painted Lady turned, to see her… father standing there- no, not her father, Katara's father… she blinked hard, realizing her mind was slowly splitting back into the Lady and Katara Yupik.

"Yes," she said smoothly, trying to cover her turmoil. Fights tended to cause the minds of the two that she was made of to entwine, which was bearable. Their unwinding caused a lot of confusion.

"Good, I'll call the Brute Squad."

"Brute Squad?"

"New special unit, formed for capturing… unusual people."

"I hope you don't mean me."

"I do." Hakoda said, crossing his arms, wincing a bit from his broken wrist. "But, well, sadly, you just moved to fast, and I couldn't get my hands on you."

She raised an eyebrow.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead. I owe you one. But that doesn't mean you're getting a free ride from here on out. You're still a vigilante. I still have to catch you. Someday anyway."

She looked at his wrist, "Let me see your hand."

He looked at her, confused, but complied. She floated closer, and touched it.

He winced, then his eyes grew wide, "You…"

"Healed it. It's one of my many abilities." She felt her mind unweave further, and knew she needed to get somewhere quiet, so she could work through the transition. "I must go." She gave a nod to Hakoda, before dissolving into mist.

Hakoda couldn't help himself, he chuckled. "Weird girl."

* * *

The Painted Lady drifted in the wind, high above the city, as her minds un-wove, reclaiming the identities of Katara and the Lady.

They floated in peace for a while, enjoying the euphoria of having helped bring down such a dangerous being.

The peace was short-lived, though, as the Lady's mind stirred, _"Something is in the city, something that is emanating energy. It's like a small sun."_

 _"Where?"_

The mist stirred and shot off, the Lady quickly seeking out where this power was coming from. Soon, she brought them to the top of South Tower, tallest building in the southern hemisphere.

And someone was standing on top of it.

The mist landed in front of him, quickly reforming into the Painted Lady. Katara regarded the stranger through glowing turquoise eyes.

He was clearly National, between his black hair drawn into a top knot, porcelain-like skin, and bright gold eyes. Though, his eyes resembled molten metal more than the usual ruddy-gold color, and even seemed to glow. He was dressed in what seemed to be armored military fatigues, and a domino mask sat around his eyes.

"Who are you?" The Painted Lady asked. Katara wasn't sure if it was her or the Lady, who asked that, probably both.

He bowed deeply, his hands forming the flame. He was a National, all right. "I am Fire Lord."

Katara lightly 'pushed' the Lady away from the ability to speak, she wanted control of this conversation. "Unusual name."

"So is 'The Painted Lady'."

"I guess, I think it's better though."

"Fair enough." He smirked.

"Why're you here? This is a little outside of your usual territory."

"I'm here for you, my Lady."

She raised an eyebrow, "I hope-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." She could see the tinge of a blush on his cheeks, "I just couldn't settle on an easier way to say your name than that."

"What about the first part of your statement?"

"Well, it's true. I'm here, for you, well, because of you." He walked past her, and looked over the city, "Something is on the horizon. Something _big_. I don't know what it is, but I can feel that events in the world are coming to a head. People with fantastic skills and abilities are crawling out of the woodwork by the truck-load, the Earth Empire is about to crumble into pieces, and, most troubling, the terrorist organization I fight, Black Flame, has gone quiet. There have been no major moves against them, so they must be readying themselves for something."

The Painted Lady scratched her nose, a tic that Katara had as well. "While that is… interesting, I guess, how does that bring you here?"

"I intend to unite the best people I can find. People that not only have amazing abilities, but also want to keep the world _safe_. You're one of them." He turned towards her and held out a small, thick disc.

She took it, and turned it over in her hands, "What is this?"

"Ever heard of a pager? It's like that. I'll be giving one to the other people I'm recruiting." He caught the flicker of doubt that crossed her face, "Don't worry, it's for emergencies. As in, giant emergencies that none of us- those that will be on the network that is- can handle alone." He poked the device, "That's how we're going to stay prepared. That way, if something catastrophic happens, we're on top of it. Of course, it's up to you really, if you want to join me."

Katara and the Lady both stared at the device, before the Painted Lady's fingers tightened around it. She looked at him, "I would be honored."

He smiled and bowed again, "Please, I'm a National, the honor is all mine." He stood up straight, and bright gold fiery energy blasted from his hands and feet, and he began to take off.

"Wait!"

He turned around in mid-air, looking at her expectantly.

"What're we called? As a group?"

He smiled, "Well, I'd say we are at the forefront of a new age. I was thinking, 'Vanguard'."

* * *

A/N: YEP. While Zuko and Suki might've teamed up and become friends, this is the official start of Vanguard's formation. The next few chapters, covering Aang, Toph, and Longshot are going to have either Zuko or Suki show up for recruitment. And once all the members are in, well, I have something planned.

Anywho, lets go backwards, and go over this before I talk more about Zuko.

I didn't intend for Hakoda to be such a big part of this, but, he ended up so. Had to be, Hama works in a murder mystery setting (something I'm obviously not the best at writing), so we needed someone to actually sniff out Hama, who is code-named Night Witch, but that'll be used later.

I know I didn't go into her whole backstory properly, but I didn't want to do a usual villain monologue, so its something thats for another time (as she's still alive, there will be another time, she's a super villain). Basically, Hama went through some shitty stuff while married to that Fire Nation guy (for Lee Chan is SO Fire Nation, he's distantly related to Chan from the Beach episode. Holy shit, the Beach episode. It may be some hard filler but I fucking love it so much. Probably because of the scene were Zuko whips off his shirt and doves fly by as a bunch of girls coo at him, its hysterical, I love it) and it really fucked her up. Baking that On top of the racism that was RAMPANT so long ago, she decided to go to town on any Nationals she could find.

I didn't put in the proper research on the police, please disregard how ignorant I may seem about how they may work, lets just say this is how the Southern Water Tribe system works. I know the chief probably wouldn't be so involved, but he is here. I took a cue from Legend of Korra's chief Lin Beifong, sue me.

Katara, the Lady, and the Painted Lady form a crazy fucking circle. Katara hosts the Lady, and when she calls on her power, they become the Painted Lady, who they both have control over, and their minds are more fluid like this, where they can just become one entity completely in harsh battles. The Lady is more of a hard realist, she knows killing opponents is the most efficient way, and Katara, of course, is much more of an optimist, and doesn't want to take a life.

 _Jiangshi_ are, in actual Chinese mythology, pretty much chi vampires…. who _hop._ So i took some liberties, kept the energy-draining and supernatural horror, and made these _Jiangshi_. It's what I eventually settled on for Hama, after going through several ideas, but this is the best way I could get across the canon Hama's terrifying nature, while still spinning it into something that fits this world better.

I tried to write something more substantial about Katara in school, but I just couldn't. But I will say that Song is at her school to, and if we get back to this area in the world properly, I will say that Song will play a larger part, so we can get more than just superhero action stuff… which is probably why you're here, but I know to make myself feel like more of a writer, I should put in more mundane stuff.

Erm… that seems to be about it… so! I have one more thing to say.

Just writing a brief scene with these two together, even if its with Zuko with his walls up (because, really, I've only been writing walled up Zuko so far. Adorkable Zuko is very much in there- we'll see him eventually- he's just hidden) and Katara being a bit wary of him, I realized how much I love these two together, so I am going for a Zutara pairing. Anything else though, is TBD, but will probably be more off-the-beaten-track since I don't have to work with canon.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Comment!

NEXT TIME: Slipstream encounters a Whirlwind.

Edit: Just wanted to rejiggering of this chapter, something I plan on doing to the rest of them, but I wanted to change it to the Painted Lady using her arms _as_ water-whips, instead of forming water-whips from the water in the air, so that it'll match what happens in the first Vanguard arc.


	13. Slipstream: Storm of the Century

Storm of the Century

Panting, Aang put the plow away in the barn, having finished a rough hour of readying the fields for planting. His strength and speed made him a good replacement for Help- the old ostrich horse that had died a few months ago, so when Gyatso had commented that the fields needed plowing, Aang had happily volunteered.

Well, if by "commented" one meant "told him to plow the fields" and by "happily volunteered" one meant "had to, because he had broken Gyatso's favorite Patola statue and this was his punishment".

But the other way sounded better.

If he could've used his full speed, he would've been done far faster, but, as it turned out, going several hundred miles per hour while towing a giant bladed _thing_ was a bad idea. Instead, he had to trudge at a good clip, lugging the plow behind him.

Either way, he was done.

He shambled into the house, looking forwards to a hot shower and a few hours of chilling out before going into Yangchen City to fight whatever criminals he could find. Stepping in, Gyatso's voice suddenly called out to him, "Aang?"

Sighing a bit in disappointment, the teenager made his way to his guardian.

He found Gyatso in the living room, relaxing in his recliner, Appa snoring at his feet while Momo- their little white cat- mewled from the shelf he was perched on. The old farmer was watching someone- Aang was pretty sure it was Yangchen's mayor, but he honestly wasn't sure- speaking about something in front of some building.

The thought went though his mind that he should pay more attention to the news.

"Yeah, Gyatso?" He asked.

"Did you finish plowing the fields?"

"Yep."

"Good." He stood up, and turned to look at Aang straight-on. He ran a hand through his messy gray hair and put the other on Aang's shoulder. "And? What do you have to say?"

"Uhh, sorry for breaking your Patola statue?"

Gyatso raised an eyebrow.

Aang cough and repeated his apology, this time without phrasing it like a question.

The older man smiled, "Apology accepted. Tomorrow we'll seed, but for now, you should re-"

He was cut off by the sound of screaming coming from the television.

Both men swung around, to see that the speech had been cut off by a new arrival, who was holding the mayor (? Aang still wasn't sure) by the collar.

As they floated several dozen feet off the ground.

"Well, I was going to say for you to 'relax' but it seems fate has different ideas." He turned to Aang, "Go."

* * *

Between dressing and running, Aang managed to get to the library- for that's what the building the mayor was speaking in front of was- within five minutes.

Thankfully, he arrived just in time to save the mayor from falling to his death.

He passed the shaken politician off to his security, before zooming to stand underneath the attacker, "Who are you?" He shouted.

The man dropped from the air, slowing before he hit the ground, levitating a few inches above the concrete. He was young, in his mid-twenties perhaps, and looked like he was an Earthen-Nomadic mix, judging from his stocky build and his Nomadic pale skin and facial features. He was dressed in dark gray flannel, blue jeans, and combat boots. A scar split his left eyebrow in two.

"Right on time, Slipstream, just as the rumors said." He grinned and spread his arms, "I am Zaheer."

Aang crouched to a ready position, "What do you want? Why attack the mayor?"

"I want to bring about a new system. As he is part of it… he needs to be removed."

Before Aang could react, a fist had collided with his chest and launched him across the street, colliding with the cement of a building. He fell to the ground, landed on his feet, and took off towards Zaheer.

Aang dodged as well as he could around Zaheer's fists, before landing a flurry of strikes on Zaheer's chest, but the man just winced, growled and slapped the speedster away.

Recovering quickly, Aang began zipping around the older man, striking with all of his strength at what would be weak points on a normal person, but Zaheer took the punishment, and after several dozen strikes, managed to snag Aang, tossing him down the street.

Turning the tumble into a roll, Aang got to his feet and shot away from Zaheer. Turning around, he ran as fast as he could, cocking back a fist, intent on punching his opponent in his face. Considering how durable he seemed, he figured that Zaheer would easily be able to survive it.

However, he didn't get a chance to test that, as when he within striking range, Zaheer side-stepped, and grabbed Aang's neck as he shot by.

Choking for a second, it took a bit to register that Zaheer had taken them both several hundred feet in the air. Before he should react, the flier hauled him back towards the ground.

He hit the ground with a loud crack, and the world started fading away.

The last thing he noticed before losing consciousness was the feeling of a pair of arms gathering him up, and the sensation of ascending into the air.

* * *

Aang blinked slowly as he came to, wondering why his bed was so uncomfortable. Then, he realized he was sitting upright, and couldn't move his arms and legs.

His eyes widened and he began to take stock of his environment, having remembered what had happened before he loss consciousness.

While he wasn't sure, he guess he was in a warehouse, but he could definitely tell that he was tied to a chair by a copious amount of ropes. Shifting around, he was alarmed by the realization that anything beyond a gentle shifting would cause a loop of rope around his neck to tighten significantly.

He fell still, attempting to think up a way to get out of this situation, when a voice broke the silence, "Tell me, Slipstream, have you ever heard of the legend of Guru Laghima?"

Zaheer floated around from somewhere behind Aang, settling into a lotus position, floating several feet off the floor, facing the bound speedster.

Aang blinked a few times, slightly baffled. After weighing his choices, he decided to play along. He looked up for a second, trying to remember anything about history, "He was… the guy who established our government, right?"

"Well, the modern version, but, yes. About three hundred years ago, the Air Temples were decentralized, and as such, had become rife with corruption. Laghima saw this, and brought about the change needed to heal the Airlands."

"What does this-"

Zaheer's lips twitched in irritation, "Don't interrupt me," He took a breath, "Do you even know anything about our society? As to how far behind its fallen behind our international neighbors? The Airlands are rife with crime, corruption, and poverty. We're behind in technology, science, technology, mathematics…. Because, just like three hundred years ago, the system is failing, and we need a rejuvenation."

"And you think you're the one to do that?"

"'Think'? I _know_. What else do you know about Laghima? A certain… myth?"

Aang's brow furrowed, before he looked back at Zaheer in shock, "That's a _myth_! Laghima couldn't fly!"

"Why not? I can fly. You can run at incredible speeds. And, I assume you've heard the legends of the others who had the Blessing of Patola."

Aang sat in silence, unsure as to how he should respond.

"I don't believe that it's a coincidence that two men of our caliber have been born in the same time period, with such an opportunity before us." He leaned forwards, "We could be the modern Laghimas. We could restructure the the Airlands, and turn them into the utopia they should be. Air is the element of freedom, and this government has put shackles on the populace, and we could be the ones to free them."

"So that'll mean killing people?" Aang asked, thinking about the attempted murder of the mayor.

Zaheer arched an eyebrow, "Yes. It is the nature of change. It is upheaval, violence. It is like a fire passing through a forest. Initially destructive, but needed for the health of the forest."

"I'm not fire, though, I'm air." Aang stated.

Zaheer smirked, "And what is it that fuels fire?"

Aang glared at him.

The older man sighed, before unfolding himself, his toes grazing the floor, "Some day, you'll have to learn to outgrow the outdated beliefs of the very monks who are keeping our people down." He floated towards a window, before turning around, "Think about it, Slipstream!" He shot through the window, shattering it.

Aang stared after him, brooding about the man's call for violence, when he suddenly realized something. "HEY!" He shouted, "YOU DIDN'T UNITE ME!"

* * *

It was about fifteen minutes later when Aang tired himself out from struggling, and decided to wait for a while to see if Zaheer came back.

That's what he told himself anyway, the truth of the matter was that he had accidentally flipped the chair forwards, pinning his face against the floor.

As he lay there, he found himself caught between two distinct emotions- panic, that he wouldn't be able to stop Zaheer from doing… whatever it was that he was planning on doing. And secondly, that embarrassment that he, Slipstream, a supposed protector of the city, was being foiled by some cleverly-tied rope.

"Having a little trouble there, Slick?"

He startled, and accidentally tipped the chair onto his side, now pinning his arm underneath himself and the chair. However, that brief pain was ignored when he saw that someone new had shown up in the warehouse.

She was a tall woman, probably a few years older than himself, with auburn hair and lightly tanned skin, marking her as someone from one of the souther Earthen nations. She was clad in a dark-green bodysuit that had metallic plating covering her torso, legs, and arms. Her left arm bore an odd golden gauntlet, however, and her face was uncovered, save for cherry-red face-paint that covered the area around her eyes.

What really threw him off, however, was her weaponry. A pistol sat on either hip, and a large, silenced rifle was slung onto her back.

"Uh… who are you?"

"Kyoshi-4." She responded, walking over to him, "And you're in a pickle. Hold on, there, kid." She said, lifting his chair upright, before moving behind him.

He felt some shifting, mutterings of phrases like "so that goes there, and then…" and "ohhh, this is a _good_ knot," then a *snick* sound and the ropes fell away.

He hopped to his feet, removing the last bits of rope looped around him, before turning to the strange woman, "And, uh, why're you here?"

"To untie you."

"uh, that's it?"

She rolled her eyes, "No, kid. To be honest, I've been keeping tabs on you for the past… well, technically, the past two years that you've been active, but I've only been here, watching you, for about a week or two."

"You've been watching me?" Aang asked, alarm creeping into his voice. Did she know who he was? Where he lived?

She held up a reassuring hand, "Chill, I'm not interested in your civvy identity, only you as Slipstream."

"Oh, uh, why?"

"That's a conversation for later," seeing his furrowed brow, she sighed, "I promise, we _will_ have that conversation, just right now. But, I'm getting off topic. What I really want to talk about is how you're going to beat Zaheer."

Aang looked down, and scratched the back of his neck, "How can I beat him? You must've seen the fight, he beat me in what? Like, a minute."

"Well, for you it probably felt like a minute, for us non-speedsters, it was about fifteen seconds."

"Still!"

"Hey, hey, calm down. Listen, I'm going to give you some advice-"

"Why can't you help me directly?"

"Two reasons. One: you don't have the skill set or experience I'm used to working with, so I'll be at greater risk, and two: this is your fight. I want to see how _you_ do against Zaheer, not myself or anyone else, but _you_. So I'm going to give you advice."

"Oh… kay…"

"Play to your strengths. He may be stronger than you, but you're faster, and you go out into the city every single night. You know this place better than he does. Figure something out."

Aang rubbed his chin a bit, before something came to mind. It was a rough plan but… "I think… I think I have something."

She grinned, "Good." She started to turn away, before stopping and spinning back around, "Oh, and here." She fished a scrap of paper from a pocket on her belt, handing it to him, "This is the hotel I'm staying at. Room 212."

"Uh-"

"When you've beaten Zaheer, come find me, and I'll tell you why I've been keeping tabs on you." She got to the window and pulled something from her belt, aimed it out of the window, and fired. A rope shot out of the end, towards a building outside. It grew taught, and she zoomed away.

Aang blinked a few times at the abrupt exit, before turning around, and zooming through the warehouse to find the exit.

* * *

It was only the next day when Zaheer made his move.

Aang was at home, peeling potatoes with Gyatso, when the news interrupted the sitcom they had left on in the background with a report that Zaheer was rampaging through the temple.

Gyatso had given Aang a quick nod, and he shot off, pulled on his costume, and rocketed out the door as fast as he could.

After a brief stop to start his plan, he got to the temple to find Zaheer doing battle with the Temple Guard, and made his entrance by sweeping one of them out from under Zaheer's descending fists. He put him down a bit away from the fight, motioned for him to go, and zoomed back to the rest of the Guard.

"Go! Go! I'll fight him, leave, before he kills you!" Aang shouted at them.

They all looked at each other for a split second, before looking at a rapidly-approaching Zaheer. One with a particularly large amount of stripes and markings on his uniform made a motion, and the guard stood back.

Aang turned to Zaheer, who smiled wryly, "So I take it you've turned down my offer, then?"

"I didn't even need to consider it. The Airlands may be in bad shape, but violence isn't the answer to that problem."

A laugh, "But it is the answer to the 'problem' of me?"

"You can always surrender, I would prefer that?"

He got his answer in the form of a fist grazing his cheek as he only barely dodged Zaheer's attack.

The larger, older man struck at him several more times, before landing a lucky strike that knocked him several yards away. Getting to his knees, Aang saw the chunks of heavy, dense stone that made up the temple, and grinned.

He hefted a chunk of rubble in either hand and shot at Zaheer, dancing around him while delivering a series of weighted strikes with the rocks.

The man growled as his strikes missed the speedster, and Aang only got more confident.

His mistake the first time was trying to fight Zaheer like a normal person, just running at him and attacking like he would a typical street thug. He needed to be constantly moving, circling Zaheer so he couldn't get an advantage.

After a rapid series of strikes, Aang reared back and punched Zaheer as hard as he could in his face.

The older Nomad stumbled back, clutching his nose. He pulled a hand away, crimson decorating it. His eyes narrowed and focused on Aang, "It's been years since anyone's been able to make me bleed." He snarled and lunged, missing Aang by a few inches as the speedster slipped away.

Aang started running away from the temple when he saw Zaheer rise into the air, murder in his eyes.

The chase, to any outside observer, would've lasted about thirty seconds.

To Aang, it felt like four minutes, but it was a _long_ four minutes.

It seemed like his successful attacks on Zaheer had gotten more to the man than Aang had predicted. Between their last fight and their "conversation" in the warehouse, Zaheer had projected a much calmer demeanor, and Aang had only wanted to get him angry enough to fly at him, not "I want to kill you so badly I'm crashing into buildings on turns and not even caring" mad.

But either way, it worked.

There were a few close calls, like the manhole Zaheer had thrown that would've decapitated Aang if not for a last second dodge.

When Aang saw the steel framework up ahead, he nearly cried in relief.

He thanked whatever spirits that were listening that the construction crew was off today, otherwise this would've been a very bad idea indeed.

He turned into the framework and found himself in a dead end, created by a partially-built concrete wall, and turned, a look of horror on his face as Zaheer began to close in.

Then he grinned as the man got within a few yards, and _stomped_.

The steel beam he had buried there before going to the temple shot up, right in Zaheer's path. He tried to slow at the last second, rearing up, but that only allowed the beam to collide fully with his chest.

The super-human collapsed to the ground, gasping, and Aang took his chance to zoom up to the floor above, and shove a large pile of beams that he had stacked up there after burying the first one.

The beams rained down on Zaheer, burying him in heavy steel.

Aang returned to ground level, and inspected the pile, waiting for any movement. Seeing none, he jumped into the air, "WOOOOOO! YEAH! That's right! That's RIGHT! I'm the best!" He pranced around for a few minutes, before he heard the sound of metal scraping against itself. He turned around slowly, and saw Zaheer slowly clambering out of the pile of beams, glowering.

He lunged, but Aang easily dodged around him, grabbed one of the beams, and hauled it around.

The sound it made clashing with the man's skull was a wondrous noise.

Zaheer collapsed to the ground. For a second, Aang feared he had killed the man, but was reassured by the steady rise-and-fall of his chest.

He got the steel cable he had found at the construction site and quickly trussed up Zaheer in the closest approximation to the bindings he had been held by previously, and deposited the tied-up man on the side of the road, as police cars began to show up on the road.

With a jaunty wave at the police, he ran off.

He'd talk to them someday.

Just, not while he was wearing gym clothes and goggles.

* * *

Aang knocked rapidly on the room marked _212_.

Within a few seconds, a woman answered. For a second, he didn't recognize her, between the loose t-shirt and sweatpants replacing body armor, and a lack of face-paint, but then it registered, "Kyoshi-4?"

"Yessir."

"Hey! Hi! I mean- Thank you! I beat him!"

"I know, kid, its all over the news." She grinned and opened the door further, allowing Aang- now dressed in normal clothes- to step in. He cringed. The place was a _mess_ , clothes strewn everywhere, empty take-out boxes on the table… the list went on. She spoke before he said anything, "Don't mind the mess, please, my friend is the clean one, I'm used to him picking up after me."

"Oh, uh, okay. So… why were you following me?"

"Right down to business huh? Alrighty. Well, before I explain…" she picked up a briefcase that had been hiding under a large sweatshirt, and placed it on the table. She motioned for him to come closer. "This is a gift. My friend- not the neat one, another one- felt that your- uh, 'uniform' is just plain embarrassing-"

"hey!"

"-so he made this. Now, this isn't a bribe or anything, this is just something you can have whether you accept our offer or not."

"Offer?"

"I'll explain after I give you this." She opened the case, and, after a second, Aang realized what he was looking at and gasped.

"This- oh man, can I-?"

"Go, put it on."

He grabbed the contents of the case and shot into the bathroom.

Within seconds, he was fully dressed.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and a wide smile spread over his lips.

The outfit was _awesome_. His torso was garbed in muted orange, while below the belt and his shoulders it was solid black, with dark red boots and gloves. The suit was lightly armored- mostly the torso and back, but the gloves and boots were as well. In the center of his chest was an emblem, reminiscent of the old Air Nomad symbol, comprised of a spiral design in a solid gray circle. After admiring the main suit for a bit, he picked up and put on the final piece: the helmet. It covered most of his skull, but left the face open, his eyes protected by an orange-tinted visor. The helmet itself was mostly back, save for the yellow arrow that trailed the middle of his head, the point ending between his eyes. He vaguely remembered that some ancient monks used to get tattoos similar to this.

His admiration was interrupted by Kyoshi-4's voice, "So, kid."

"Yeah?"

"Ever hear of Fire Lord?"

* * *

A/N: Wow, wow wow! I like this one SO much more than the last Aang chapter, christ, the last one was not that good. It was alright, but it was my least favorite of any chapter so far. This one, I think anyway, is far better.

First clash and full feature of a Korra character, with the infamous terrorist Zaheer. Ah, Zaheer, my favorite LOK villain. Probably because he was the one airbender the show didn't try to push as "the greatest person ever" (maybe Kai too, but he reformed or whatever). Really, though, why did both shows really like pushing Air Nomads? They were pacifist monks and nuns who were vegetarians and were the only nation to be only benders, that literally sounds like someone trying to make a perfect group of people. We see bad Fire Nationals, Earth-folk, Tribespeople, but no bad Air Nomads… well, largely because they're all dead…

I think is kid of a shame that they got ride of the idea to bring in some surviving Air Nomads turing ATLA, we could've had a really messed up one who wanted Aang to destroy the Fire Nation or something… plus, y'know, genocide is really hard to do… so it would've made the "extinction" of the Air Nomads more believable.

Anyway! Aang finally has his suit! AND He's part of the Vanguard response team! The suit I based a lot off of the Earth-2 Flash from the Injustice game, just with a less dumb helmet, not as large gauntlet-things, and no lightning bolt, instead, its the Air Nomad symbol (the one according to the Avatar wiki, anyway). And, yes, of course, Teo made it. From a distance? Yeah. Lets say he's just getting better at tailoring, okay? I didn't want to put off Aang's new costume any sooner okay?

Speaking of (and because I want to ramble on about some of the world I came up with) the nations do have flags, the Earth Empire's is the same from the Legend of Korra, but the others are different. The Fire Nation's is a good ol' canton-type (the canton of a flag is the top inner corner, where stuff is put. see: the flag of the U.S, Australia, Togo, Tuvalu, etc.) similar to Chile in basic design: two giant bars (gold top, black bottom), the canton is red, and it has a circle of stars, one for each "state" (which is every island, and the different areas of the land they own on the Earth continent). The Water Tribes have color-swapped versions of each other's flags. The Northern has a silver background with a blue moon and border, and the Southern has the opposite, blue background, silver moon and border. The Airlands have a pale orange flag with a white, upside-down "v" on it that symbolizes the mountains they originally stayed on. Then there's all the minor Earthen states & city-states (Omashu, Gaoling, the Sand Tribes) the Foggy Swamp tribe, the Sun Warrior tribe (yes, they exist. On a single, small island, as a protectorate of the Fire Nation) etc. that I don't have the patience to think up flags for (unless it becomes necessary, somehow).

Oh! And Suki! Yeah, she uses Kyoshi-4 as her superhero name, despite all the connotations it still has for her. The reason is that she wants the name that Long Feng wanted the world to fear be one that the world looked to for help as a "take-that!" to her old "caretakers".

For a frame of reference, this takes place about eight months after the bunker raid that Zuko and Suki pulled.

Zaheer will be seen again. Not as one of Azula's team (he wouldn't do well with her. He sees himself as a noble crusader, and would see Azula as a big bully) but he will play a part in later Slipstream chapters… oh! And, yeah, he's technically called Whirlwind, but Zaheer doesn't seem to be the type to take up a title. Not enough of a showboater. And yes, Zaheer is correct that the Airlands are behind most of the other big nations, but he's mostly cherrypicking data and presenting it in a deeply negative light. The Airlands are largely a-ok.

Oh, and yeah, Gyatso is out-of-focus, I'm just unsure how to write him at the moment.

Oh! And, um, sorry if I got farming wrong.

Hm-hm-hm. That's about all…

Questions, comments, concerns? Comment below!

NEXT TIME: IT'S THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY! THE BLIND BANDIT TAKES ON THE TAG-TEAM OF THE BOULDER AND THE HIPPO, IN AN ULTIMATE STREET MATCH!


	14. Blind Bandit: Street Fight

Street Fight

The door swung open, and a flunky peaked his head out, "Master Beifong will see you now."

Xin Fu let out an exasperated breath, "About time."

"The Master is a busy man, mister Fu."

"So am I." He said, stalking into the office.

Xin Fu was a large man, built like a badger-mole, and clad in an odd combination of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and carbon-fiber armor that covered his chest, lower arms, and lower legs. He stopped in front of Lao Beifong's desk, "What do you want, Beifong?"

Lao looked at him for a few seconds, before speaking, "I have heard that you have men of… interesting capabilities."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I… need you to find someone." He pulled a paper from his desk and slid it across.

Xin picked it up, scanning it, "Your daughter? I didn't realize the princess had left her tower."

"She… left. I need you to bring her back."

"…something tells me that if she managed to escape this fortress, _and_ you called on me, that she's not an ordinary nineteen-year-old." He said.

Lao just scowled, "She is very strong, and survived a jump from the top of this building when she escaped. I sent non-powered people after her and they were found stuffed in dumpsters."

"Dead?"

"No, unconscious, but she had crushed the lid edges and trapped them in there."

"Oh."

Lao stood up and started walking around, "She's… strong, stubborn, and aggressive." He turned to Xin Fu, "Your men need to be strong enough to take her on. But I don't want my daughter dead. Or heavily injured. I just want her back, alive."

"As good as my men are, how are they supposed to keep someone of her strength captive? Enhanced humans recover from injury and sedation much faster than normal people."

Lao held out something, "With this. Place it around her neck, so the glowing part is against her spine. It'll nullify her strength."

Xin Fu looked at the collar before shaking his head, "Before I take that, I need payment."

"Payment will be furnished upon-"

"No, they'll be furnished _now_. I need collateral."

"No-"

" _Yes_. What if your little daughter rips off one of my men's arms, but she gets away? Will I get money then?"

Lao clenched his jaw, before he let out a sigh. He went behind his desk and kneeled down, fiddling with something, before taking something out- a case- and placing it on the desk. He opened it and spun it around. Pale green bills sat tucked inside.

"One million yuan. The other two will be payed when Toph is back home."

Xin gave the case an appraising look, "You keep cases of money in your desk."

"You never know when it'll come in handy."

"True." He nodded, "You have a deal, Lao. Now where is your daughter?"

"Well… all we know is that she's hidden herself somewhere deep in the Gaoling slums. She's an urban legend, the-"

"Blind Bandit?" Xin grinned, "Your daughter is the _Blind Bandit_?"

"Y-yes. Why?"

"She's interfered with several of my… side businesses." He looked at Lao, a grin on his face, "You'll get your daughter back, Beifong. And I'll get back my streets."

As Xin Fu left the office, Lao Beifong couldn't help but feel he may have made a big mistake.

* * *

Standing on top of an apartment building, Xin Fu smiled when he heard the heavy treads of his two best men.

"Hello, sir." They said in unison. Well, one said it, the other, larger one just grunted a similar-sounding noise.

He turned around.

One looked largely normal, muscular, but only wore a pair of skin-tight shorts. The other was a great mountain of a man, with a massive stomach and a mouth that seemed far too wide.

"Boulder, Hippo." Xin Fu said. "I have an assignment for you. Lao Beifong wants his little girl back. I need you to go get her."

He saw the confusion evident on their faces.

The Boulder lifted a finger, "Uh…"

"Yes?"

"I feel conflicted about trying to catch a small, blind girl."

"Here's the thing. His daughter is the Blind Bandit."

The Hippo growled and stomped, while the Boulder scowled and cracked his knuckles.

"I think its time you show her the new tricks Doctor Zei gave you."

The Boulder grinned, "Conflicted feeling's gone."

* * *

The Blind Bandit was a Gaoling criminal's nightmare. She haunted the slums, using her frighteningly powerful senses to home in on any illicit activities. Shootings, drug trade, smuggling, human trafficking… all had gone down in the eight months since she had dropped into the slums. Her name had been given by criminals, frustrated by all the money her activities were 'stealing' from them.

And where did the Blind Bandit call home?

A basement apartment deep in the depressed area of the city.

Toph Beifong lazed on her battered, dirty mattress. Her apartment was only slightly nicer than a prison cell. A mattress, a dingy bathroom, a single stove, and a twenty-year-old television were all that were in it. It was a far cry from her palace-in-the-sky.

She loved it.

She could be herself for once in her life: a dirty, loud-mouthed, brawler who dished out pain to whatever stupid criminals were on the streets.

Toph belched and pawed around for an apple.

Her most constant enemy was a gang known as the Rumble. They were largely harmless… nowadays, anyway. They had used to be the top dogs in the slums, but when Toph showed up, she had torn apart their criminal empire as if it was made out of cardboard. They were reduced to two head enforcers, who went by their street names, the Boulder, the Hippo, and a small cohort of goons.

She frowned a bit. She hadn't seen the two knuckleheads in a while. She made a mental note to scout the streets tonight and ask around about them. Maybe they ditched town?

The good thing about the slums was that no one questioned her. Few watched enough television or read the paper enough to know what the Beifong daughter looked like for sure, and she wore a blindfold all the time, which wasn't even the weirdest thing that was worn by people in the area. All the normal people knew was that she kicked criminal butt, the criminals knew to stay in line when she was on patrol, and the police… well, they just didn't hang around in these parts to form an opinion. All they care about was that the violent and drug-related crime was falling, so they were happy.

Toph's eyes widened a bit under her blindfold as she heard footsteps making their way down the hallway. She had purposely memorized the footsteps of the few other people living in the building, and this set was not one of them. She cocked her head and concentrated on the new presence.

 _'Tallish… a woman, definitely a woman. Athletic and-'_ her eyes narrowed, _'armed. Two pistols under her jacket.'_ She snorted. If this was another nutjob her dad threw at her, she was going to hide them _really_ good this time, let them stew on how bad of an idea coming after the Blind Bandit is.

The woman stopped in front of the door and- to Toph's surprise- knocked.

She weighed her options, then decided to go along with it. She could take some gun-wielding lunatic any day. Just a few weeks ago, and sniper shot her in the head with an anti-tank round and it only made her a little dizzy.

"Who is it?"

"…I can't tell you my real name. I'm kind of like you, I go by an alias; Kyoshi-4." Toph rolled that tidbit around in her head, trying to place the familiar name.

"Hmph. Come in."

The woman strode in, closing the door behind her. Toph could feel that she was taking in the dingy room. "You're a hard woman to find, Bandit. I had to grease quite a few palms to find this place."

"People like me, what can I say?" She sat up and 'looked' at Kyoshi-4. That is, pointed her blindfolded face at her, "Waddya want?"

"I came with a proposal."

"I'm not letting you hunt people."

"That's not where I was going, but anyway. I was wondering… how do you feel about working in a team?"

Toph was about to respond, when it clicked, she pointed at Kyoshi-4, "Wait! I remember your name. You're the Fire Lord guy's girlfriend, aren't you?"

"Ugh, please. Sparks is a hell of a guy, but we're too close at this point. He's like a brother to me. But I _am_ Sparks' partner. His fire support, really." Steady heartbeat. Sadly, the truth. She filed away the fact that Kyoshi-4 called Fire Lord 'Sparks' away for later. It could prove useful for ribbing.

"Hmm, cool. Anyway, why do you want to know if I'm a team player? Thinking of getting an earth-ball team together or something? If so, I gotta tell ya, I'm much better at defense than offense."

"As much fun as that sounds, no. We- Fire Lord and I- are forming a… well, I guess 'Response Team'. Pretty much, we've been going around, finding the best heroes we can, and getting us all on a network. That way, if some bad shit goes down, like, _catastrophic_ , then we group up and kick ass."

"Who've you got?"

"Fire Lord, myself, the guardian of Southern City; the Painted Lady, and a speedster from the Southern Airlands called Slipstream. We've got fire, water, speed, and guns. What we need is muscle. Fire Lord is tough and strong, but it's variable, depending on how much energy he has in him. From the rumors, anyway, yours doesn't vary, _and_ you may very well outclass him. But, well, that's just rumor."

Toph jumped to her feet, " _Rumor_? Lady, _I_ am the Blind Bandit! The strongest person in the world!" She flexed a bit for effect, before stopping in her tracks at a distant scream.

Middle-of-the-day trouble wasn't exactly uncommon, but it was rare enough that when it happened, it was usually not good. _Very_ not good. This was definitely an emphasis on the 'very', judging from how many screams. "Sounds like big trouble is going down a few blocks away, Four. And from how it sounds…" lots of screams, along the line of 'They're coming!' and 'Run! Run!' "Seems like there's some rabble rousers on my turf. Wanna join in?"

"I'll let you take this solo. No need for enemies to piece together we're starting to work together before we actually do."

"I haven't said yes, yet." Toph responded, reaching for the pile of clothes at the foot of her mattress that consisted of her 'costume'; a dark green (according to the saleswoman anyway) tank-top and black gym shorts.

"Oh! Wait." Kyoshi-4 said, dropping something onto the floor. There was rummaging before a bundle of cloth was pressed into Toph's hands. "Curtesy of the Tailor, Fire Lord's techie."

Toph grinned at the smell and feel of high-tech fibers.

* * *

Several blocks away, on the stretch of wider street that served as the local market, the Boulder laughed at the fleeing civilians, "About time they gave us the respect we deserve, right Hippo?"

The Hippo snarled as he caved the roof of a car in with a ham-sized fist.

"Yeah, you're right. The Blind Brat is overdue-"

"Wow! Blockheads one and two are back in town? I was starting to miss you!" A taunting voice called out.

The Boulder turned, and balked for a second upon seeing the Bandit.

She was normally dressed in street clothes, arm wraps, and a blindfold- which was clearly just a repurposed bandanna.

Now, she was dressed in what could actually be described as a costume. A dark green, skin-tight and sleeveless top, tight black shorts which ended just below her knees, fingerless gloves which stretched up to her elbows, a sleek, well-made blindfold, and odd, sock-things that left her toes and heel open, but went up to where her shorts ended.

The girl seemed to read his mind, smiling, "Nice threads, huh? I got myself a new friend. Now, how do you wanna do this, boys? You could just give up. It's fun beating you up, but I know you aren't so fond of it."

The Boulder smiled and looked at the Hippo, "Sorry, Brat, but we've got some new friends of our own."

He placed his hand on a lamppost, and a hissing noise rang out as the metal structure shrank and almost dissolved. But instead of pooling on the ground, the metal crawled over his skin, and within seconds, the lamp was gone, and his body was coated in metal.

The Hippo, meanwhile, had torn chunks off of a car, and stuffed the metal in his mouth, crushing it and grinding it up.

The Bandit let out a whistle, "Okay, didn't expect _that_."

The Hippo made the first move, he made a sound like he was chocking, before spitting a ball of compacted scrap out of his mouth.

The Bandit dodged it by a hairsbreadth, and charged at the Hippo, jumped and delivered a devastating kick to his stomach… or it _would_ have been devastating, if not for how she had quite literally _bounced_ off of him. She shot backwards, into the air, and landed on her hands and knees.

The Boulder shot forwards, but his shot went wide as the Bandit slid to the side, inside his reach, and punched his twice in the chest.

He staggered back, but could feel the cracks in his rocky skin already healing. He laughed, "Sorry, kid, but we're a lot tougher than last time."

She smirked, "Rocky skin for the Boulder, and a freakishly large mouth for the Hippo. Good thing neither of you are named ostrich-horse, or whoever did this to you would've stitched a beak on."

The Hippo growled and spat out several more balls of scrap out of his mouth. She batted aside two, before one caught her in her chest, causing her to stumble back. The Boulder capitalized, closing the distance and threw a punch that launched her several yards away. The Hippo tore more pieces off of the car, stuffing them into his mouth.

He leaned back and spat several more chunks of metal, one cracking against her skull as she attempted to get up.

She collapsed to the ground.

The two enforcers grinned at each other, before stalking towards the fallen girl.

The Boulder crouched over her, removing the collar from where it was attached to his belt, and moved it towards her neck.

A small hand caught the collar and crushed it, before grabbing his fist, "Idiot." the Bandit said, before springing to her feet and turned rapidly, tossing The Boulder into a parked car.

The Hippo yelled, picking up another car and attempted to bring it down onto her head, but she caught it, readjusted her grip, and tore it away from his. She whipped around and smacked him in the head with the car. He staggered away as the Boulder pulled himself from the car he had flattened.

He lunged at the Bandit, and the two began to trade blows. The Boulder smiled as he caught a fist in either hand, "Face it Brat, you cannot win! My skin heals too fast for you!"

"Guess I'll just have to fight faster." She snapped back.

The Hippo recovered, and made his odd choking noise again, spitting out another ball of metal, aiming at the Bandit's back.

However, the Boulder suddenly found himself spun around, and the metal ball collided with his back. He yelled, and let go of the girl's fists, which she put to work.

Several powerful punches forced him back, before a kick to his shin brought him to his knees. She clocked him in his face, causing him to fall to his back. She jumped onto him, jumped once into the air, and struck out her feet when she came back down.

His rocky shell dissolved as his vision faded to black.

The Hippo spat another salvo of scrap balls at Toph, who ran forwards, and grabbed a manhole cover off the street. She threw it like a frisbee at him.

He only grinned as the disc rebounded off of his stomach, right back towards her. His smiled faded when she deftly caught the cover, spun around, and flung it right back at him.

The combined energy of her throw, the rebound, and her spin accelerated the disc to the point that he couldn't dodge it or catch. Instead, it smacked his skull, and he collapsed.

* * *

Toph brought her arms up, flexing them as she stood on top of the collapsed The The Hippo, "Oh yeah! Still the best!" Sirens alerted her to incoming police, and she looked at the unconscious criminals, "Well, I hope you two have fun. I heard they put together a special squad for, uh, 'super' humans like you. See ya!" She gave a jaunty wave, before jumping away.

She landed about a block away from her apartment, and jogged the rest of the way.

She burst into the apartment, loudly declaring how awesome she was to an obviously amused Kyoshi-4. "Have a good time out there?"

"Yeah!" She quickly gave a run down of the fight. "Hey, they might've hit harder than they used to, but its nothing for the Blind Bandit!"

"Good. So?"

"So, what?"

"Don't play dumb, what about my offer?"

"Well… as long as it doesn't mess with my work here. I'm pretty much the only one keeping order in the slums."

"It shouldn't, not constantly anyway. Only on the- hopefully- rare occasion that we all need to gather up."

"Hmmm… alright." She could sense the woman deflating with relief at her response, "How will you get in contact?"

"With this." The woman pressed something, metal and small into her hand. A casual inspection revealed that it was very similar to a phone in composition. "It'll do a whole beeping thing if you're contacted. If you hold the button on the side down, then an audio message will be played for you, letting you know what's going down."

"Cool." She tossed the device around in her hands, as Kyoshi-4 began to make her way to the door. "See you around, I guess."

"See you." The woman slipped out the door.

* * *

The Boulder struggled against the straightjacket he had been forced into. Stupid Bandit. Stupid police. Stupid witnesses who told the police what his abilities were! His head rested against the wall of the rubber cell. They had thrown him into the cell of a mental institution while they prepped a new, Boulder-proof cell at the police station. He had no clue where the Hippo was.

"ARGH!" He shouted into the air, smuggling against his bonds even more. Rocks and minerals? He could absorb easily. Metal? With a few minutes. Rubber and cloth? No way.

His head cocked up as he heard something.

The sound happened again, it was like a rapid popping noise. There was suddenly gunfire, screaming, which rapidly approached his door, that popping noise going off every few seconds.

Suddenly, the noise stopped, and he looked at the door in confusion.

The popping noise, much louder now, sounded off, and his door was suddenly blown off its hinges, launched to the other side of the room. He stared at it, blinking rapidly, before turning to the door.

A tall woman strode in, every other step making an odd clanking noise, and he quickly realized why. Her left arm and leg had been replaced with mechanical prosthetics, covered with gray plating. From her look, she was National, but even taller than a National woman usually was. Her black hair was brought back into a braid, and was shaven on the sides.

Across her forehead, above her red eyes and inky black eyebrows, a metal band was set into her head, an odd oval directly in the middle.

She gave at him cooly, "Dashi Kuai. Aka, the Boulder. My name is P'li. I work for the organization known as Black Flame. My employer wishes to know if you'd like to join us. We offer double your usual pay, and a chance to improve your… abilities."

Stunned by how… nonchalant she was about having just broke into a criminal's prison cell, he nodded, barely questioning her offer. She strode forwards and raised her mechanical hand, the light glinting off of sharpened tips. He winced, but her claws only tore through the straightjacket, not his skin.

She turned around, "Come on. We're going to recruit your friend, the Hippo, next."

* * *

A/N: I honestly had no clue as to what I was going to do for the Bandit chapter, even when I wrote the NEXT TIME on the last chapter, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Lao Beifong hasn't made it well known that his daughter disappeared and is a super strong ball of destruction, still kind of embarrassed by her antics, _and_ unwilling to let law enforcement know that he was keeping her in the tower against her will. So he turned to shady, deep web kind of guys.

I will admit, I had the powers for the Boulder and the Hippo almost since I decided to put them in this universe. Boulder directly absorbs material, not just copying it. The more he absorbs, the more he can heal, and the faster the healing will happen. he absorbed rock off of a building, so he had a pretty good layer. Hippo, I pretty much took what he showed off in the Earth Rumble, made it more super-power-y, took away the Earthbending, and voila, he has his powers. (Side note: Dashi Kuai comes from da shí kuāi, which is how he apparently signed his name (in characters) on the ransom note from when him and the Rumble fighters kidnapped Toph. It apparently means 'big chunk of rock').

And yes, now we have Dr. Zei, a man who can apparently grant people superhuman abilities (I really just needed a name, then I remembered Professor Zei, and decided he'll be like Dr. Octopus before his transformation in The Spectacular Spider-Man. A meek man, who is forced by bigger powers to make human weapons).

We got a first good look at P'li as well, and the makings of Azula's own team. I still haven't decided if Mai and Ty Lee are going to be on her crew, more neutral players, become traitors or what, but I do have their abilities down.

I really like Toph, I hope I did her justice, and I can't wait to write her interacting with others. This Suki is too chill, so I couldn't write Toph annoying her to all ends. That's Zuko and Katara's lot in life.

As for Suki not joining in, this time, unlike Aang, it wasn't because she wanted to see how Toph did, it was because she just thought Toph could handle it (plus, she didn't know Toph was going up against two superhumans, but that probably wouldn't have changed her mind. Aang was an unknown factor, and she wanted to see how he did against someone who technically outclassed him.

Oh, and I want to quell worries that Toph is too tough. Remember her first chapter, she was hurt by the electricity from a wall socket. Just because she can beat up the Boulder and the Hippo, two purely physical fighters, doesn't mean she can take on anyone.

One last note: totally lied about one more Longshot chapter, I can't conceptualize another recruitment/fight chapter without it seeming very boring in my head. He'll join up in the team-up chapter…

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Comment below!

[Get some dramatic music in your head]

NEXT TIME: IT'S WAR! Black Flame has made the first move in its quest for global dominion!Finding that their forces are too strong for even himself, Fire Lord will have to gather together the heroes he's connected to fight the Ultimates.

(This is gonna be a big one)


	15. Vanguard: Part One

Vanguard: Part One

 _"I'm just concerned with the Prime Minister's foreign policy, after all the Earth Empire-"_

 _"I-I-I'm, sorry Mister Xu, but we have to stop you right there, we have breaking news. This just in, Grand Secretariat Kuei, of the Earth Empire, has passed away. We go now to Lee Chan, for more on this startling event. Lee?"_

 _"Thank you, Ruon-Jian. Yes, the announcement came not an hour ago, from Ba Sing Se. And, frankly, it's unprecedented. The Secretariat was a young man, and- from what public appearances he has made that have made it to the Nation, seemed relatively healthy. There is speculation that foul play was involved, but Ba Sing Se has been tight lipped about what the cause of death was, let alone if it was an attack of some kind. What concerns me, however, is the fact that he had appointed no apparent successor, and- according to rumor anyway- the various generals and officials have all been jockeying for that honor. So the question is: what happens now?"_

* * *

 ** _Puqi, Jilin Province, South Eastern Earth Empire, Eight Weeks Ago_**

Longshot groaned and clambered out of his rented bed. He hazily pulled on his clothes before walking over to the window of his hotel room. He spread the curtains to take in the morning view…

Something was wrong.

He stared at the streets below, and took in the sight of columns of soldiers, all dressed in black fatigues, marched down the city street.

He slid over to the television and flicked it on.

Static.

He pulled out his latest rental phone.

No bars

He walked over to his bag and opened it, pulling out his work clothes, while eying the large case that held his bow and quiver.

Time for reconnaissance.

* * *

 ** _National Ministry of Defense Headquarters, Miyako, Present Day_**

Zuko leaned back and threw a bit more energy from his feet, slowing his descent, before cutting his jets, dropping lightly to the ground. Within a few seconds, Suki joined his side, having made her way here over rooftops.

The pair strode forwards, towards the large metal doors. The security guards flanking the entrance touched fingers to their ears, before one opened a door, bowing slightly to Zuko and Suki as they passed him, entering the building.

A short man in a suit greeted them, bowing, "Fire Lord, Kyoshi-4. I am Ikem, an undersecretary to the Defense Minister. Please, follow me."

He lead them through a series of hallways and elevators, towards the top of the building. "It is an honor to meet you two. The work you've done… from fighting Black Flame overseas, to taking down criminal superhumans on our shores… its inspirational."

Zuko bowed his head, "Thank you."

"My daughter, she idolizes you, Kyoshi. She claimed she wants to be you when she grows up."

Suki kept herself from saying how she wished no one would grow up to be her, considering all the terrible stuff she'd been through, but she bit her tongue. Instead, she smiled, "Adorable. Tell her I said 'hello'."

The man nodded excitedly before stopping in front of a nondescript metal door. He straightened himself up before turning to them, "Wait here for one moment," he opened the door and stepped inside.

His words escaped the door muffled, but Zuko could still hear him announcing their presence to the Defense Minister. Within a few seconds, the door swung open, Xu motioning them inside.

The room was a typical meeting room, wood paneled, a long, oval table, and the one wall was dominated by a giant screen.

Sitting around the table was a small group of men, all dressed in pristine suits. Zuko quickly picked out Minister Shinu, a large man, with thick muttonchops and mustache. Upon the entrance of the two heroes, he stood and bowed, "Fire Lord, Kyoshi-4. It is an honor to finally meet you two."

The two bowed in return, but any further formalities were stopped by the minister, "Please, sit. We have very important matters to discuss."

Zuko took a seat directly opposite the minister, Suki sat to his immediate right. Zuko spoke first, "What is the situation you wished to speak about?"

Shinu waved a hand at the screen. One of his subordinates tapped a fey keys on a keyboard, and the image zoomed in on the Earthen continent. A gray-green color highlighted the Empire's territory, "As I'm sure you know, ten weeks ago, Gand Secretariat Kuei died. Since then, the Empire has rapidly destabilized, spinning into a continent wide civil war with over a dozen factions."

Suki raised an eyebrow, but kept silent. Her home country had been an unstable mess for over a decade, slowly turning into a power keg. This wasn't that much of a surprise.

"About two weeks ago, we noticed something odd in Jilin province. Unlike every other region, there were no signs of warfare. We had originally thought they had somehow managed to stay stable," as he spoke, images of soldiers, dressed in pure black, marching through Earthen streets showed up on the screen, "but satellite imagery, followed quickly by drones, and a few- very daring- intelligence officers, confirmed that somehow, Black Flame had asserted control over the whole region."

Zuko and Suki almost jumped out of their chairs in shock.

"It is unclear as to _how_ they managed to gain such swift control, considering Jilin had been home to two rival generals, but they did. And, from what we've seen, a considerable amount of'sympathetic' Earthen soldiers have been folded into their forces."

"How many do you estimate have joined?" Zuko asked.

"Over one thousand."

Zuko stifled a curse.

"We called on you two for a variety of reasons. You have far more experience dealing with Black Flame than any of our forces do, and you have the advantage of incredible skills that can aide you against the superhumans we suspect Black Flame may have."

Zuko held up a hand, "Please, you do not have to explain further," he glanced to Suki, who nodded, "We'll do it. Tell us everything you know."

* * *

 ** _Puqi, Jilin Province, South Eastern Earth Empire_**

"Ma'am."

Azula turned a fraction, putting the officer in her peripheral vision, "Yes?"

"A riot broke out at Factory 6, the citizens put together completed firearms and have holed themselves up in it. The local guard has requested help."

"I'll direct one of my squadron to assist them. Tell the guard commander to execute half of the rebels. I don't care how they chose, but half, not all. We still need the people to work, after all."

"Yes ma'am."

"Progress on the weapon?"

"Moving swiftly, ma'am, they estimate it is nearly at eighty percent completion."

She turned back to face the cityscape, "Tell the managers to move faster. We can't waste our time here. Fire Lord will arrive soon, I can feel it. Whether or not we keep Jilin, that weapon is vital to our future plans."

"Yes ma'am."

The officer retreated back into the building, leaving Azula alone on the rooftop. She breathed deeply, before smiling, "Where are you, brother?"

* * *

 ** _Southern Medical University, Southern City_**

Katara clucked over the results of a test. An eighty-two. Passing, but she could've done better. Pulling out a textbook, she began to go over her answers.

Something began buzzing in her room.

Her head flew around and she began to carefully search the drawers of her desk when she found it; the thick gray disc that Fire Lord had given her. She picked it up and clicked the green button, and a wall of text appeared.

Her eyes began scanning over the information, then her eyes widened and she straightened up, _"Lady?"_

 _"I know. I agree."_

She neatened her room, before allowing the Lady's power to seep into her, morphing her body and clothes, becoming the Painted Lady.

Dissolving into mist, she snaked out the window, and drifted a bit before reforming above a cluster of buildings. She levitated in place for a few seconds, before leveling her body with the ground and accelerating.

True flight, not mist traveling, was a skill she had but tended not to rely on heavily. Floating along as mist was quieter, used less energy, and- while not as fast as true flight- was still fast. However, this was not a situation that merited stealth or conserving energy.

She found it far past the outskirts of the city, where the thick pine forests dominated the land instead of brick and steel. In a clearing, a sleek grey plane was parked, steam drifting off of the engines. She landed at the side of the aircraft, just as the door swung open, a woman wearing black face-paint and green body armor leaned out, "C'mon in. Sparks is in the pilot's seat, and he's getting antsy to leave."

Katara arched an eyebrow, muttering "Sparks?" before she floated up to the door and stepped inside. The redhead closed the door behind her, sticking out her hand, "Name's Kyoshi-4, welcome aboard the _Flare_."

She reached out and grasped Kyoshi's forearm, "I'm-"

"The Painted Lady, I know." The plane suddenly lurched and their grip broke. Katara looked back, through the window in the door, and saw the ground retreating. The other woman lightly grasped her shoulder, "Why don't- oh! Wow, you're cold!"

"I _am_ a water spirit." The Lady responded.

"Uhhh… o- _kay_ , but, as I was gonna say, come into the cabin. Sparks is going to be flying for a bit more, until we get to crushing altitude for autopilot, anyway."

"I take it to mean that 'Sparks' is Fire Lord?" She asked, following Kyoshi into the cabin. It felt larger than other airplanes Katara had been on, probably because the seats lined the walls, leaving the floor largely open. A transparent panel a few feet long had been brought up in the middle of the cabin, a lean- well, _scrawny_ \- young man stood in front of it, tapping away at diagrams.

He turned to her, "Ah! You must be the Painted Lady. I'm Tailor."

"He's Fire Lord and I's tech nerd."

"Hey! Well yeah, but still." He turned back to the spirit-woman, "I'm tech support. Your-eye-in-the-sky when you're in the field."

"Pleased to meet you, Tailor." She said, inclining her head.

She swept over to a seat and sat down, while Kyoshi-4 and Tailor began having a conversation in hushed tones.

 _"It is amazing, how much humans have progressed since I last roamed your realm. Flying machines… will wonders ever cease?"_ The Lady pondered.

 _"You've seen planes and helicopters before. And you've hung out in my memories enough to see me ride in a plane before."_

 _"It is…_ different _in person. Last time I walked the world, you humans were just floating into the air on balloons. Now, you can travel hundreds of miles in an hour. It is really amazing."_ She was silent for a second, _"Tell me… how do you feel about this? This is new territory for us. Street criminals- and one strong Jiangshi- are not a terrorist organization of trained soldiers."_

 _"I'm nervous yes… but, when we bonded, you said it was so we could help those in need. A lot of people are at stake here. The people that Black Flame has pinned under their boot for one thing, and the people that they intend to hurt in the future."_

The sound of steady footsteps broke the mental conversation, and Fire Lord entered the cabin.

He was dressed in the same armored fatigues as he had been when they first met, but seemed much tenser than then. Likely because of the terrorists occupying a whole province. When his eyes met hers, his face softened a fraction. He grinned and bowed, "M'lady."

Katara rolled her eyes, but responded, "Fire Lord," inclining her head.

He straightened up, "I'm pleased you could join us."

"It was the right thing to do."

He smiled a bit, before turning so he was addressing his two friends as well, "We'll be at the Southern Airlands in less than an hour. Did you send a message to Slipstream?"

Tailor nodded, "Just did."

"Slipstream?" The Painted Lady asked.

"One of our allies," Fire Lord responded, "A Nomad, gifted with super-speed and enhanced strength. Our other friend is the Blind Bandit, from Gaoling. She has almost ridiculous amounts of both physical durability and strength."

Katara's eyes drifted over to Kyoshi-4 and Tailor, and Fire Lord made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, "Kyoshi is an expert marksman, spy, and material artist, but she is assuredly _not_ superhuman. And Tailor is just very, very smart. Doesn't mean they aren't highly valuable though."

"I wasn't doubting that. I was just… curious, I guess."

She noticed Kyoshi-4 was staring at her, and turned towards the woman, arching an eyebrow, "Yes?"

The woman hesitated for a second, "Are you… naturally purple?"

"No, one of my abilities is shape and color shifting. I can do other colors as well," she demonstrating, quickly shifting from purple to bright yellow to dark pink, while exchanging her stripes for spots and squares, before shifting back, "And my teeth are not normal that of an orca-shark, and my eyes do not glow. My… real form is that of a normal Southern Tribeswoman."

"Fascinating!" Tailor said, "Were you born able to do that or…?"

There was a moment as Katara and the Lady fought to respond, before Katara took control, "No, I… acquired my powers a little over a year ago. It's… complicated."

"Not a chemical spill, I hope," Fire Lord said, smirking.

Both Katara and the Lady were thrown, while Kyoshi-4 just shook her head and Tailor laughed.

Fire Lord looked at her, and registered her confusion. He blanked for a second, before rubbing the back of his neck, "Uh, superhero comic-book joke. Since there's a lot of heroes who just kind of get their powers from random chemicals…"

Katara reasserted control, "No, no, I understood, you just… don't seem to be the type to make jokes."

"He usually isn't." Kyoshi said, "He's more of a sarcasm guy, but mostly, he's stiff and humorless. Like a big, irritable flamethrower."

"Thanks." Fire Lord said dryly, shooting the woman a glare.

"See?"

 _"I like them."_ The Lady whispered to Katara's mind.

Katara agreed.

* * *

 ** _Countryside near Yangchen, Southern Airlands_**

Slipstream's arrival on the _Flare_ was far more chaotic than the Painted Lady's had been. The energetic nineteen year old had shot in, zooming around the cabin, introducing himself (in very, _very_ fast words) to Teo and the Painted Lady while firing off rounds of intelligible questions, punctuated by loudly shouted phrases like "This is so _cool_!" and "Aw, man _wow_!"

This went on for about a minute, and was finally stopped by Suki, who stepped up and grabbed the teenager's shoulders, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, _whoa_ , kid, kid. Calm _down_."

"Oh, uh, sorry. Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just excited. Where's Fire Lord?"

"He's flying the plane."

"Oh! Wow! He's a pilot?"

"Among other things. Now, kid, _this_ ," she turned him towards the Painted Lady, "Is the Painted Lady, protector of Southern City."

"Er, hi!" He said, waving a bit awkwardly. She gave an appraising look, before nodding deeply.

"And _this_ , is Tailor. He's the one who made our suits- well, everyone's except the Lady's… that's all her thing."

Slipstream grinned and shot over to Teo, "Dude! This suit is _awesome_! How'd you even make it? I've been hit by bullets like, three times since I got it and not only am _I_ fine but the suit never even tore!"

Suki suppressed a smile at how Teo perked up at the chance to talk about his tech, "It's well, it's a complicated blend of a bunch of stuff, but there's a lot of carbon-based materials in there. Your suit I had to do a lot of tinkering on because of your speed. I ended up making a far lighter suit than Kyoshi-4's or Fire Lord's, so I could implement fabrics that would resist the enormous friction that your speed would put the suit through. I figured that with your speed, you could avoid most attacks, so I chose to make something that would keep you completely safe from most handguns, but would probably give out under a few shots from a shotgun."

"That's a _lighter_ suit?" Slipstream exclaimed.

"Yeah. Kyoshi's is armored to the point that she could probably take a fifty caliber slug to the chest with only light bruising. Fire Lord, well, he projects a slight energy shield that makes it so his suit just needs to be tough enough to withstand most fire-fights and his temperatures, so it's more for aesthetics than yours or Kyoshi-4's is."

"Huh. Cool." Slipstream looked around, before his eyes settled on the Painted Lady, who was staring off into space (something Suki had noticed happened a lot).

She watched with amusement as the teenager sat himself down next to the purple woman, "So, uh, what's your deal?"

The woman blinked, her eyes refocusing, as she turned towards the speedster, "What do you mean?"

"As in… what's your powers and stuff?"

"Water manipulation, flight, shapeshifting are my primary abilities."

"Oh cool."

The cabin fell into silence as Teo continued to fiddle with the screen, the Painted Lady went back to staring into space, and Slipstream began to rapidly tap his foot.

Suki just settled on a chair and began to disassemble one of her pistols for cleaning.

Just the Bandit, then it was on to Jilin.

L

* * *

 ** _Factory 3, Outskirts of Puqi_**

A black truck pulled up to the security gate.

One of the standing guards lazily strode over, to the back of the truck, and opened the doors. He poked around the two crates, before stepping back out. He was about to close the doors, when he got an odd feeling in his gut. He stepped to the side of the truck and looked underneath it.

Nothing.

He shrugged and shook off the feeling. He went back and closed the doors, before walking to the front again. He waved the truck through.

Inside the truck, Longshot breathed out a sigh of relief. He had been unsure if his crackpot plan would work or not- it really depended on how well the guards were paying attention, but- against all odds- it's worked so far.

Factory 3 was one of four factories in the Puqi area that Black flame had commandeered. Three of them were churning out either munitions or armored vehicles. Factory 3, however… he had not seen any sort of product emerging from it.

What he did know was that once every few days, a cargo plane would bring materials in at Puqi. Some were loaded onto three large semi-trailer trucks, and shipped to the munitions or vehicle factories. Then, two or three crates of _something_ would be loaded onto a small truck and shipped over to Factory 3.

After establishing this pattern, he had waited until the next shipment, and hid along the route. When the truck slowed to take a turn, he slid underneath it, and grasped the underside.

He was very happy he had always worked out his arms so much.

Getting to the back of the truck from underneath in a space of seconds had been almost as challenging as hanging onto a truck for fifteen minutes.

The light in the truck dimmed, and a glance outside confirmed that the truck was in the shadow of the factory.

He quickly opened one of the crates, and his brow furrowed in confusion.

Inside the fairly large plastic box was a small glass cylinder nestled in foam. He picked it up, and examined it, and finally spotted the contents.

Suspended in the middle was a small, gold-red rock, about half the size of his little fingernail.

He frowned, and replaced it.

The truck swayed, then stopped, and he knew it had docked up for unloading.

He tucked himself in the back, pulling a balaclava over his face.

The doors opened, revealing a man and a woman, in drab grey outfits, which reminded him of hospital scrubs. A guard stood behind them, partway down a hallway, watching them.

Silently, the two people stepped in, grabbed a crate each, and walked back out, carrying them down the hallway.

The guard turned to follow them, and Longshot snuck out of the truck, slipping after them.

He was going to find out what was being made in this place.

* * *

 ** _Aboard the_** **Flare** ** _, in the wilderness of Jilin_**

The Blind Bandit's boarding had been as much as bombastic as Zuko had figured it would be, based on the stories Suki had told him. From the cockpit, he had heard the girl stomp aboard and declare, "Well no _wonder_ you needed me, girl, this is a _sorry_ lot you have here!"

This had kicked off a round of protests, only for the Bandit to reassure each other teammate that "No, _you're_ not the problem, _they_ are," In a faux whisper, easily disarming them.

The rest of the flight had gone without incident… and without very much conversation. He had figured as much, of the five people back there, only two knew each other.

Zuko had gone back there a few times, to introduce himself to Slipstream and the Bandit, but after a few minutes of strained small talk, he had retreated to the cockpit. Social situations, especially with strangers, weren't his thing.

He had been meditating for the last few minutes since they landed, but now, he had to go back there, it was time for a mission briefing. Rolling his shoulders, he strode into the cabin, arms folded behind him, hair fully tucked away into a topknot, ready for business.

Only to find that the Bandit and Slipstream were arm-wrestling each other.

The tiny teenaged girl was sitting casually, not even looking at the speedster, who was fighting to gain even an inch over the bruiser. Much to his distress, their joined hands were steadily descending to his loss.

Suki was loudly cheering them on, while Teo fiddled on the digital board, and the Painted Lady just gave them a look that was both exasperated and amused.

Zuko cleared his throat, "If you would please?"

"Sure!" The Bandit blamed her hand down, pinning Slipstream's underneath hers.

"Ow!"

"C'mon, Sparks, don't ruin the fun!"

Zuko pinched the big of his nose, "Bandit, please don't hurt our teammates, and Kyoshi, don't encourage her."

He got eye-rolls from both women, but he rhinoed on, "Will everyone take your seat- _not_ you Tailor, you know that." He moved to stand next to the digital board, "Now, it's time to tell you all what you're up against."

* * *

A/N: Ahhhh! I'm so happy to get this arc started!

So, just a few notes on the world.

Jilin province is about the size of Rhode Island, and located on that bit of land that sticks out on the south side of Chameleon Bay. Puqi is the one major city, with heavy industry, but the rest is a bunch of farming villages, which is the occupying force's primary food source.

In the Longshot chapter, its mentioned how the Earth Empire was becoming a practical feudal system, with generals lording over patches of land and squabbling over them. This is largely due to weakened leadership, especially that of Kuei, who- just like in canon- is far more bookish than political. But, since Long Feng was working on the Kyoshi project, there was no one to actually hold the reigns, so the whole thing began to fall apart at a more rapid pace. The poor guy keels over, and the whole thing goes up in flames.

And by the way, yes, Ruon-Jian and Chan are newscasters there at the beginning. I may have used the name "Chan" previously, but hey, there can be more than one Chan in the world. I have a real soft spot for those two, just because of how _teenagerish_ they are compared to the other characters. I mean, Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee have gone to war, fought in a foreign country against trained soldiers, fought and driven off the Avatar and his allies, and brought down Ba Sing Se (though that was really just the girls, that last one, but still). Then these two _dudes_ walk up and are like "YO! Come to our party! We're the coolest kids on the island! Woooo!" I think they're hysterical.

Shinu is just the Defense Minister here. He read to me as more of a reasonable authority figure (considering he gave active push-back against Zhao, and wasn't like "KILL ALL THE EARTH PEASANTS" when on the war council) so I gave him a role high up there.

The Katara segment ended up much longer- and the only one in a newcomer's POV- than Aang or Toph because I didn't want to do the same thing three times. As in "They get the call, find & board the Flare, have chit-chat". Plus, it has the additional internal dialogue between her and the Lady. So, sorry I didn't write for Aang and Toph as much, but they'll get their moment soon enough.

I originally wanted to get a lot more specific with what is in the suits, including materials like "carbon-carbon composites" "graphene" and "titanium weaves" but I didn't want to go too technical, considering how technical I got.

Yes, that awkward silence was intentional at the end of the Aang bit, you'd have that with a group of strangers.

And of _course_ Toph would start shit as soon as she shows up. She's Toph, she bulls her way through situations because she hates propriety and such.

I wonder where I got the idea for Longshot's method of infiltrating a high-security base via a supply shipment? Hmmmm… *Cough*thebluespirit*cough*

Anyway, things are only ramping up!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Comment below!

NEXT TIME: Vanguard is assembled, but Black Flame won't relinquish their territory easily. A host os surprises await our heroes as they struggle against to free Jilin from the clutches of Black Flame!


	16. Vanguard: Part Two

Vanguard: Part Two  
Plans

 ** _Factory 3, Outskirts of Puqi, 12:01 AM_**

Longshot carefully crept along the hallways, towards the catwalk he could see in the distance.

After following the guard and the two workers for a bit, he had split off, not eager to follow them into potential trouble. After some stealthing, he had stumbled upon an office with a small window that overlooked the factory floor, but its griminess had prevented him from making out just what was happening. However, he had spotted a catwalk that crossed over the space, and had set out to find it.

Some near-misses later, and he had finally found said catwalk. A quick spot-check revealed no approaching guards, so he snuck out onto the platform.

The factory was… not a factory. It was clearly never built as a factory and had never been one. This had been built for whatever it was they were making.

Everything was superbly clean, and lacked any heavy machinery, instead, it seemed to be mostly laboratory equipment, and stuff he couldn't name for the life of him. Dominating the floor was an odd set of scaffolding, and inside was something that looked vaguely humanoid.

He stared at it, trying to decipher what it was. It was nearly twelve feet tall, and largely made of pearly white metal. The chest was dominated by something that looked oddly like a red bird. The… machine thing lacked a head, as well as several sections of paneling.

Longshot turned his attention to the workers, of which there were about fifteen. His eye widened in surprise when he realized only a few of them wore the gray scrubs, and appeared to have been the downtrodden locals. The rest of them were dressed in immaculate white, and strode around with an air of confidence and pride. He pegged them as Black Flame members.

His eyes caught one of the crates from the truck being opened, and watched as one of the white-clad workers removed the tube. Placing it on a table she opened the tube and removed the tiny rock, and put it onto what seemed to be a scale, embedded in the surface of the table. She took a note, before moving the rock into a small bowl, and began to crush it with a pestle. After a few seconds, she removed the pestle, and carefully scraped the powder into a beaker that contained a much larger quantity of the powder, which had an odd gold luster. She went back to the crates and picked up another tube, and began the process again.

His eyes drifted over, and he spotted a man standing in front of a piece of white metal- most likely, one of the pieces missing from the robot-thing. He seemed to be _painting_ one side of it, with an odd, golden, paste-like substance.

A loud clanging broke his concentration, and his head quickly swung to the source, a door slamming open on the laboratory floor. A woman- National, wearing a simple black suit- stalked in, flanked by three… oddities.

One was another National woman, but was easily a head taller than the one in the lead, and had long, braided hair that was shaved at the sides. A metal band was embedded in her forehead, and she wore a red version of the Black Flame uniform.

The other two were large Earthen men, one looked relatively normal, though he only wore skin-tight shorts, while the other was a great lump, with odd hair and wore only loose, black shorts. Swinging at both men's waists were rocks in an odd netting rig, the larger one had far more rocks than the smaller one, however.

All work stopped upon the group's arrival, the workers immediately bowing and scraping, muttering the name, "General Azula," in the process.

The woman in black approached one of the workers, "Project Manager Shen. What is the issue you wished to speak to me about?"

"W-well, General, we were running preliminary tests on prototypes for the Phoenix Armor's helmet. And well, the sozinite interferes with the cerebral interface. It creates a feedback loop of power, and poses a threat to General Ozai."

"Is it fixable?"

"Uh-erm, possibly, but it will take considerable amounts of time and resources, and even then-"

The woman stepped closer, and placed the tip of a claw-like fingernail on the man's temple. "Shen. You were the one who assure my father and myself that you could make this armor. Your assurances are why we even established this facility. And since you've begun this project," she traced her finger down, a stripe of red following it, Shen barely seemed to notice, trembling in fear, "It has been delay after delay. You claimed you could finish the armor by last summer. Father and I were _very_ understanding. A project like this has never been attempted, of course there would be delays, but we had full confidence in you." She let out a very dramatic sigh, shaking her head, "Now, the Earth Empire has collapsed, forcing us to take over an entire region just to cover _your_ work, and you claim that the armor may not be feasible? _That_ is not acceptable, Shen."

Something moved out of the corner of Longshot's eye, but he was too focused on the woman.

"So, if you want to live, Shen, get to work, _make_ it work, and do it as fast as-"

She was cut off by a series of out popping noises, and Longshot turned his head in time to see something that looked like a spherical heat shimmer containing a small flame fly towards him, and collide with the metal platform.

A large explosion ripped through the air as the catwalk was torn apart underneath him, unable to grab anything, he fell straight to the ground, but recovered from his shock enough to roll upon hitting the ground.

He drew his bow and quickly shot off several arrows, aiming for General Azula and each of her companions, marking them as the biggest threats in the room.

The General caught her arrow, while the other National woman swiped away the one aimed at her. He noted that the center of the metal band, a small, yellow oval was emitting light strings of steam.

To his shock, the arrow aimed at the slightly smaller Earthen man just bounced off of him, until he realized that the man's skin had transformed into grey stone.

The last arrow his its target, embedding itself several inches into the massive man's chest… but he just looked irritated. He growled, and pulled the arrow out.

Longshot stared dumbly at them, thrown by just how ineffective his prized skill had been.

Then, General Azula shot forwards, kicked his bow from his hands, and grabbed him by the throat, slamming him against the ground. The woman quickly maneuvered herself on top of him, pinning him down, one hand on his throat. He struggled against her grip, but it was like steel, inescapable. She smiled at his fruitless attempts at escape, "Well, well, well. Seems like our security could use a few upgrades. Good catch, P'li."

"Thank you, Ma'am." The other National woman bowed.

"Now," Azula said, leaning closely to Longshot, "Who are you?"

He just sneered at her.

One of her eyebrows climbed upwards, before a look of realization washed over her, "Wait… bow and arrow, Earthen male, and…" a finger from her free hand traced over his face, before prying into his mouth and forcing it open, "No tongue. The mute archer, Longshot. My, my. _Quite_ the good catch. _Far_ too good to kill."

He leaned back exposing his throat, jerking his head a bit.

"Please, archer. Don't act so superior that you'd rather _die_ than work for me. You've worked contracts for Empire generals _far_ more unsavory than I."

He glared at her.

"Ah, well." She climbed off of him, but kept a foot on his chest, "You three," she said, pointing to three of the several guards that had shown up in the wake of the explosion, "Take him to one of the holding cells on sub-level one." One stepped forwards, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his belt.

Within seconds, Longshot was restrained and being dragged away by two of the guards, the third following several feet behind, carrying his bow and arrow, with a gun aimed at his head.

"I'll talk to you later, Longshot! Hopefully you'll come around to my point of view." the General called out mockingly.

He wished with all his might that he had spit at her when she was close to him.

* * *

Azula whipped around from watching the archer being dragged away, and pointed at Shen, "The situation has changed, Shen. If _he_ could infiltrate what I was _assured_ to be an impenetrable facility, then it will be child's play for the Fire Lord and his little girlfriend. You and your team will finish whatever work you're in the middle of, then you'll pack up everything onto the next cargo plane out, and you'll be moved to Site 15."

"But-"

"No buts! And I want it done covertly!"

"Covertly?"

"Yes, as in 'not obvious'." She turned, "P'li, Dashi, Hippo, stay here. Zhao will join you soon. I need to schedule the engineers' departure, and give a status update to father."

The three bowed their heads.

Azula strode away, and made a mental note to chastise the security officers… _'Strike that,'_ she thought, _'I'll just replace them. Corpses won't be useful guards anyway.'_

* * *

 ** _Aboard the_** **Flare** ** _, in the wilderness of Jilin_**

"Black Flame's primary purpose for occupying Jilin province appears to be for the protection of four factories in the region, most of which are within a few miles of Puqi. Factories 3, 6, 10, and 11," Zuko said, dots on the board's map highlighting each, "Factories 6 and 11 manufacture firearms, while 10 is devoted to their armored cars. Factory 3, however, is an unknown. Unidentified raw materials go in, and nothing goes out, and it was too heavily protected for anyone to infiltrate."

"That's a lot of conversion work for Black Flame to have done in only a few weeks." The Bandit said, scratching her nose.

"Yes, it is. The Defense Ministry believes that Black Flame may have been using these factories covertly, before the Empire's collapse. Probably established via shell companies, or pulled strings with local politicians. Either way, the Empire's collapse is probably why they're now occupying the region, to protect their investment," he turned a back to the board, "These factories are our primary targets. If Black Flame is here _because_ of them, then they should leave once they're destroyed."

"But," Slipstream spoke, hesitation rolling his voice, "if Black Flame is the reason the region has been stable… what happens when they leave?"

A smile flickered over Zuko's face. The kid was smarter than he let on, "the Ministry made contact with Omashu. They'll move in once we've driven out Black Flame, and play defense for Jilin as the province sorts itself out."

"That's just replacing one occupier with another," the speedster retorted.

"It's not perfect, I admit. But at least Omashu soldiers won't be using press gangs to force the populous to work factories. Or shoot down anyone who even looks at them wrong. Besides, peace keepers will… keep the peace. The local government had been executed by Black Flame when the occupation began, if we destroy the only thing keeping a semblance of order, then leave, and not give another thought- then we're not much better than them. This is _better_ than the available options."

"So what is the plan?" The Painted Lady spoke.

Zuko nodded towards her, silently thanking her for getting the conversation back on track, "While the other factories are somewhat important, Factory 3 is our priority, especially whatever it is that they're building in there. However, we cannot just smash in there, guns blazing. The factory is protected from all angles by two types of automated heavy gun. One type is anti-aircraft, mounted on the rooftop, and from the sensors on them, rely on more than just radar. If we bring the Flare in close, the ship will be shredded. Also concerning are the turrets that line the fences. Based on a report, they use a tungsten-based armor piercing round, which is likely strong enough to injure myself, and possibly even the Bandit."

The girl let out a derisive snort.

"Based on scans, the turrets are powered on-site, by an underground generator. One of us will have to infiltrate the factory, locate, and disable this generator," He turned and looked at the Painted Lady, "Based on your abilities, you're the best suited for this."

She hesitated for s split second, before nodding, "I'll do it."

"Perfect. Once the turrets are down, Tailor will pilot the _Flare_ are drop us off inside the fence perimeter. Don't underestimate the foot soldiers, by the way. Black Flame has a variety of nasty weaponry they developed to combat superhumans, me especially. After that, we only have to worry about the superhuman contingent either being stationed there, or arriving while we're inside. Once the threats have been dealt with, we locate their project and shut it down." He turned, "Questions?"

"'Superhuman contingent'?" the Painted Lady asked.

Zuko nearly hit himself in his head. He had nearly forgotten all about that, after the whole debate over Omashu soldiers, "Yes, sorry, but, yes, there are superhumans employed by Black Flame," he turned, and tapped a corner on the board, pulling up four mugshots. "These four."

"Can't see." the Bandit said dryly.

"That's fine… you should be able to identify them based on what they can do," he pointed at a National woman, "She is P'li, real name; unknown. She's six feet, eight inches tall, weighs two hundred thirty pounds. Her left arm and leg have been replaced by fully functional prosthetics made of a titanium alloy, and that band in her head is made of the same material. It's also what makes her dangerous. From that oval in the middle, she can project a blast of energy that generates a sizable explosion upon colliding with something solid. She can adjust the size of these explosions, from that of a hand grenade, to an explosion equivalent to one hundred pounds of dynamite. Alongside this, she also had enhanced strength and reflexes. She is extremely dangerous, before joining Black Flame, she worked as a mercenary, and killed with zero compunction. It is unknown as to _where_ she got her abilities from."

His finger shifted, pointing at the National man, "Zhao Gama. He's six feet tall, weighs two hundred pounds. He's ex-Navy, removed for inciting a mutiny and leading an attack on an Earthen pleasure cruise. He was a normal human, until being infused with dragon DNA-"

"'Dragon' DNA?" Slipstream asked, incredulous, "But, dragons are extinct!"

"It's unknown where Black Flame obtained dragon genetic material from."

"Have you considered another dragon child may be part of this organization?" The Painted Lady asked.

Zuko frowned, "Yes, but, there's no direct evidence that any others exist."

The Bandit started waving her arms, "Wait, wait, _wait_. 'Dragon child'?"

"Another time," Zuko said, "When time is less of an urgent matter. Either way, the gene therapy granted Zhao a physicality to easily match my own; toughened skin, extreme strength, heat resistance… however, it's an unknown if he's actually here. National intelligence agents haven't seen anyone matching his appearance, but he may have slipped through the cracks. He's a powerful asset."

Zuko looked at the Bandit, "You, Bandit, may know these last two, they're both from Gaoling. The first is Dashi Kuai, who goes by the nickname, 'the Boulder' and his partner, who only goes by 'the Hippo'."

"The Boulder and the Hippo are working for Black Flame? I thought they had been put away!"

"They were broken out by P'li, under the command of Black Flame."

"Well, I put them away once, I can do it again."

Zuko nodded, hoping that was the case, and that Black Flame hadn't managed a way to enhance their abilities. Either way… "Dashi Kuai is six feet, five inches tall, and weighs two hundred sixty pounds. He can absorb minerals- rock especially, and convert them into a protective second skin, which allots him increased strength, durability, _and_ the protective skin is repairable. The Hippo is seven feet tall, and weighs five hundred forty pounds. His skin is very tough, and only made tougher by the thick layer of fat underneath it. His primary offense, however, is… interesting. His jaws are incredibly powerful, and he can take bites of tough material- like, metal for instance- mash it into a rough spherical shape about the size of a bowling ball, and _spit_ it at his opponent at high velocity. The source of both of their abilities are unknown, as both were normal street thugs until a few months ago."

"You got all of that from a single fight with me?"

"Well, yes. You're one of the strongest superhumans I've come across. They'd be pushed to fight as well as they can. Black Flame may have enhanced them in a way but… those abilities are likely what they'd have to build off of, so its unlikely that they'd stray far from that." He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, before asking one last thing, "Any questions?"

The Bandit raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Are you always so uptight?"

Zuko leveled a glare at her, before realizing it would have zero effect, so he settled on pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. "Any _real_ questions?"

Teo stepped forward, "Not really a question, but I almost forgot something myself," he picked up a small case from his seat and opened it, taking out a small round device, "Earpieces."

As everyone took one, Zuko glanced at the Painted Lady, who had gave the device a curious look before pushing it into a purple ear. "Will the earpiece be a problem?"

"No. As long as I consider it part of me, like my dress, it will stay intact. It works with my phone, anyway."

Zuko nodded, before stepping away a bit and addressing the group, "Oh, uh, one more thing. Listen, I don't know what your policies on killing are- and I _don't_ want to get into a debate about it right now. So I'll just say this: if you're not going to kill Black Flame soldiers, at least restrain them in some way. Most of them are wanted criminals, and the Omashu forces have promised to extradite them when they arrive. Got it?"

While some (Slipstream) had slightly troubled looks on their faces, they all nodded.

"Good. Now, my Lady? You're up."

* * *

 ** _Puqi_**

Azula pressed the green button on the computer console, and stepped back, watching the there dots zoom across the screen several times, before they froze, and the image of a middle-aged man popped up, "Azula. This is unexpected. You're not due for a check-in for another twelve hours."

"There is a situation, Father. The Earthen archer, Longshot, infiltrated Factory 3, and discovered the Phoenix Armor. Thankfully, P'li discovered him. Due to the skill needed to perform such a feat, I had him imprisoned in one of the holding cells. However, I made the call to begin backing up the project. Everything should be loaded onto one of the cargo planes and on their way to Site 15 within the hour."

"Hmph," his arms came up, elbows rested on the desk, fingers steepled. She could see a bit of an IV training from his elbow. "Disappointing, but necessary. What is the progress on the armor?"

"Nearly complete. Shen claimed that they were experiencing some difficulties with the helmet, but I made it clear that he was to finish it."

Ozai stiffened, hitched slightly, then breathed out. Azula frowned a bit at the cough her father was hiding. His strength was probably the only reason he had lived this long. He spoke, interrupting he thoughts, "Any word on your brother?"

"No, but I suspect he should be here any hour, now. He never did learn how to mind his own business."

"I want you to kill him, Azula. Recover his body, if you can, but kill him. Our plans have moved to a point where his continued meddling will cease to be an annoyance and become a true hinderance. We need him out of the picture."

She grinned, "I'm already ahead of you. I've stationed my personal squadron at Factory 3, and will join them shortly."

"Good. Do not disappoint me, Azula."

"I will not."

The screen went blank.

* * *

 ** _Factory 3_**

A curl of water vapor slipped through the chainlink fence, moving rapidly towards the factory.

Katara and the Lady were both silent, simply observing the facility as they picked a way in.

 _"They're nervous,"_ Katara said, noticing how twitchy the guards seemed.

 _"Maybe they know we are coming?"_

 _"It won't matter if we can't get those turrets down. Let's just go."_

The water vapor flattened itself to the ground and snuck into the loading bay. It took some trial-and-error, but she eventually found an elevator. The water slipped in-between the elevator doors, and began to drift down.

There were two underground floors, and no indication as to what either held. On a whim, she chose the higher floor, and slipped into those doors.

Only to find a Black Flame guard on the other side, reaching for the elevator call button.

 _"Perfect."_

The mist condensed around the man's outstretched hand into a solid stream of water, quickly followed by another ribbon appearing around his throat, as the mist began to grow and solidify into the Painted Lady.

The Guard had stood transfixed, a terrified expression on his face, but before he started screaming, she clutched his throat, the Lady speaking through the purple mouth, "Answer my questions, and you will live."

A sudden, defiant sneer bloomed on the man's face, and he mouthed something terribly offensive.

He got slammed into the wall for his lip.

"Where is the power generator for the defensive turrets?"

"Like he'll I'll-!"

She bore her teeth, using her shapeshifting to pull her lips back unnaturally far, and hissed, "Think carefully."

"I-I-"

Her arms- still made of water- began to crystalize, growing sharp spikes of ice that pricked at his throat.

"I-It's on sub-level two! Far opposite end of the hallway from the elevator!"

She peered around the level they were on, noting barred metal doors further down one hallway, "What's on this level?"

"Uh- It's s-storage! And, um, holding cells."

"'Holding cells'?"

"Yes! If, if someone could get into a place like this, they're probably really strong or skilled or something, so the general would want them kept for study or… recruitment."

"Are there anyone in there?"

"Yeah, yeah! Uh, one guy, an archer! He was caught a little over an hour ago, snuck all the way into the main floor."

"What are they building?"

"I-I don't know. I'm not allowed there."

"Hmph. Thank you." She slammed him once more against the wall, and the man fell unconscious.

 _"Rather brutal,"_ Katara said.

 _"We do what we have to do."_

She fully solidified and drifted down the hallway, glancing into the rooms, before finding the occupied cell. She waved her hand, pulling water from the humid air, and threw it at the cell door's edge, allowing it to creep into the gaps, before freezing it.

The door crumpled, and when she pulled the ice away, absorbing it into her form, it fell.

The prisoner was Earthen, with dark brown hair and black eyes. He was lean, and dressed in a leather jacket, cargo pants, and combat boots. He was eyeing her warily, clearly unsure about the floating purple woman with orca-shark teeth.

"It's okay, I am an enemy of Black Flame, same as you. I am the Painted Lady."

He nodded.

"Are you injured?"

He shook his head.

"Do you speak?"

He smirked a bit, and shook his head.

"…fine. Myself and some friends- other people like me- we're trying to end the Black Flame occupation. Could you- would you- help us?"

He seemed to weigh the idea in his mind, before sighing a bit and nodding. He stood up and strode towards the door.

She moved to let him pass, and watched him look around a bit before going towards the elevator, but he stopped in front of a door near the end of the hallway. He looked at her as she drifted closer, then pointed behind her, towards the door she had destroyed, then towards the door he stood in front of.

 _"Odd one, isn't he?"_ The Lady mused.

 _"Definitely."_

Regardless, the Painted Lady destroyed this door as well, revealing a largely empty storage space, save for a bow and quiver that hung on the wall.

Her new ally shot into the room, and pulled his weapons off the wall, slinging the quiver over his head and gripping the bow in his right hand. He turned, a slight smile on his face, and nodded.

"Let's go, then," She said.

* * *

 ** _Aboard the_** **Flare**

Zuko was watching Factory 3 in the distance, keeping an eye on the distant lights of the automated turrets, attempting to tune out what was going on behind him. While Teo was being well-behaved, quietly waiting in the pilot's seat- man was Zuko glad he had trained Teo to be a pilot, it made a lot of things easier- tapping away at his tablet. Normally, Suki was very quiet before a mission, she usually chilled out while he did a series of meditations. Now that he thought back on those times, he realized it likely had to do with his quieter nature. But now, with two rambunctious teenagers, she was letting loose, telling a series of stupid, raunchy, and just plain _weird_ stories- all while cursing up a storm, much to the delight of the diminutive Blind Bandit, and the bewildered amusement of Slipstream.

"-So, anyway, by the time that stupid bastard would've woken up and found out that his damned tooth was missing, I was back in Miyako, and he never managed to find that diamond!"

The Bandit roared in laughter, while the speedster chuckled.

"Anyway, the hair dye took a while to wash out, that's why there's still bits of blue in my hair."

"Aw, man! That's a good story!"

"Thanks, I think so too. Heh, you should've seen Fire Lord's face when he saw the tattoo."

"Ooooo! He saw that?"

Zuko groaned, "Why'd you phrase it like that, Kyoshi?"

"It's fun to see you get all irritated."

"Hmph. Anyway, Bandit, I found that stupid tattoo after she had gotten _shot_ while we were attacking a Black Flame outpost. It was either preserve her modesty or keep her from bleeding out."

"Mmhmm, _sure_."

Any further arguments were halted when Zuko saw the lights of the turrets go out, "Turrets are down, Tailor! Let's go!"

The engines roared to life, and the _Flare_ lurched into the air, causing everyone but Zuko to lurch in their seats. He smirked at the petty revenge.

As the aircraft swung around and shot towards the factory, Zuko went through a slight meditation, calming his mind, letting anger, fear, and hatred slide from his mind. Those would only interfere with the control of his fire.

"uh, Fire Lord?"

He turned to Slipstream, and felt a quick pang of guilt at bringing a teenager- _two_ teenagers- into this. But… as they say, desperate times… "Yes?"

"This is… this is going to be fine, right?"

He blinked, then smiled, "Yeah, kid… it'll be fine."

Teo's voice echoed in the cabin, "Approaching drop zone in three… two… one… _now_!"

A panel of flooring on the cabin floor slid away, and the four dropped down. The _Flare_ immediately began turning away, _"I'll keep tabs on you guys! Good luck!"_ Teo said in their earpieces.

Floodlights on the factory lit up the dark night, an alarm blaring destroyed any peace such a late time may have normally offered.

The four shot forwards, towards the facility. It was as Zuko had suspected, that security would turn inwards with the destruction of the generator, giving them an advantage attacking from the outside.

"Bandit, bring down the wall."

"On it, Sparks." The small teenager put on a burst of speed, and brought her arms up in front of her face just before she hit the metal wall, which gave away easily under her strength.

As they entered the building, Zuko tapped his earpiece, "Lady, where are you?"

 _"We're fighting through the west side hallway towards the factory floor."_

"Why don't you- wait, 'we'?"

 _"I found a friend."_

Slipstream spoke up, "I'll go ahead!" He streaked off towards where the Painted Lady was held up.

Zuko kept talking on the earpiece, "Slipstream is coming your way, the Bandit, Kyoshi, and I are going to the factory floor, meet us there."

 _"Understood."_

"Bandit?"

"yeah?"

"Want to wreck some stuff?"

"Do you need to ask?"

"The factory floor is straight that way, through the walls."

She grinned, cracking her knuckles, "On it."

* * *

Aang took a hard left turn into the west-side hallway, and immediately spotted a knot of Black Flame guards, kneeling, taking pot shots at a guy further down the hall who had a… _bow and arrow_? Okay.

He shot in close, ramming several of the guards right off the bat. He turned to go after the others, but the Painted Lady suddenly appeared, materializing out of thin air, and summoned several long strands of water, which grabbed the remaining guards and flung them at the ceiling. She looked at him and nodded a greeting, as the bow-and-arrow guy trotted up.

Aang smiled at him, "Hey! I'm Slipstream! Who're you."

He got a blank look in return.

"He doesn't speak." The purple woman said.

"Oh, uh, cool, I guess."

"Come, we need to get to the floor."

The archer nodded.

* * *

"Ha!" The Bandit cried, crashing though the last wall, shifting into a fighting stance… before falling into a relaxed one. "Uh, Sparks? We have a problem."

Zuko clambered out after her, and saw why. The room was just _empty_.

He cursed, "Maybe it's on another level?"

A door on the other side of the room opened, and Slipstream, the Painted Lady, and an Earthen man came running in. The two groups drew close to each other, meeting in the middle.

"You okay?" Zuko asked the purple woman.

"Yes, you?"

"We had no trouble."

"Until now." A voice said.

Zuko looked up, and saw several figures dropping from a balcony up near the ceiling.

The Boulder, Hippo, and P'li landed around them.

Then, a giant red… _thing_ slammed down too.

It was massive, easily eleven feet tall, and definitely reptilian, yet still somewhat humanoid. Thick claws decorated its hands and feet, and a massive tail dragged behind it. Oddly, the monster was dressed in a pair of giant shorts. Zuko's eyes drifted up to the things face, and bit back a yell of shock. "Zhao?"

The monstrosity smiled, "In the flesh."

"Quite a team you got yourself." Zuko said.

"Please, Zu-Zu."

His heart stopped in his chest, as a woman slowly descended from the balcony, blue jets of fire slowing her descent before she landed on the ground. "As if Zhao would have the brains to conceptualize such an idea."

It had been years, but he would never forget that face, that _voice._

"Azula."

* * *

A/N: Man o man I didn't realize this chapter was going to end up so long!

Okay, just for clarification: this is all happening in the dead of night, I should've put a time stamp in the last chapter. Whoops. Whatever, I did it now, so it's a-ok.

I had a few balls in the air for what I wanted to call my fictional special material, before settling on sozinite, which will be discussed more in a later one-shot, which will be about what the Phoenix Armor is in and of itself.

And yeah, if you had a high-security facility, filled with trained guard, protected by some _very_ nasty machine guns, and someone manages to covertly break in, you'd want to interrogate him as to _how_ he did it, _and_ you'd probably want him working for you. That's why they have holding cells, which were installed back when the facility was just supposed to be an Earthen factory.

Yes, I _know_ I already described the abilities of the Boulder, Hippo, and Zhao, but I didn't want to _just_ write about P'li and none of the other villains, _or_ write something like "Zuko explained the abilities of Zhao, the Boulder, and the Hippo".

You know how hybrids in reality aren't always healthy and can develop all sorts of complications? Just… keep that in mind.

I honestly don't know myself what that story Suki told Toph was about, it just came to mind, then I didn't want to imagine _what_ went down.

Teo got pilot training from Zuko, for situations just like this, where Zuko can't fly the _Flare_ and fight on the ground at the same time.

I considered doing a whole battle between Vanguard and the Black Flame soldiers, but I didn't want to do a whole fight scene between them and a bunch of nameless mooks. Zero tension.

I also went through various versions of the plan, before deciding to just do Factory 3. Before, I considered several strike teams taking down each factory, but then I decided that made no sense, as it would be a big flashing sign to Black Flame saying 'WE'RE HERE! PLEASE PUT AS MUCH PROTECTION AS POSSIBLE ON YOUR SUPER SECRET FACILITY!'

Sure, in the long run, it didn't matter, as Azula anticipated them, but hey, they didn't know that.

I want to save the superhuman fights for next chapter, to cut down on the length of this one and beef up that one.

Oh! Right, the uh, Giant Dragon Mutant in the room. Remember how at the end of the first chapter, Ozai told Zhao that they would just have to make him stronger? Well… they certainly did that… with some, unanticipated side-effects. But Zhao is all about power, and he certainly has it now. And I realized I never gave him a last name, so he has one now, and it's a reference to _Mismatched_ , by Kimberly T, one of my favorite ATLA stories ever.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em in the comments below!

NEXT TIME: It's brother versus sister, and god versus god as Vanguard battles the Ultimates!


	17. Vanguard: Part Three

Vanguard: Part 3  
Conflict

 ** _Factory 3_**

Zuko felt the edges of a panic attack beginning to touch him, something that hadn't happened since he was fifteen. Azula was alive.

Azula, his little sister, who he had read books to when they were little.

Who had always been precocious, playing alongside him with his toys, ignoring the pink messes she had been given.

Who had always been Ozai's favorite, and, after a while, taken to playfully taunting him about it.

Who had grown distant from him as they grew, her ribbing turning into malicious taunting, into relentless, psychological torment after their mother had died.

Who could never produce more than sparks, and had _died_ when he was fourteen.

She smiled- it was the same as it had been, cruel, devoid of any joy- as she looked at him, "What a bunch of misfits you've gathered, Zu-Zu. You always had a penchant for strays."

"You know her?" The Painted Lady asked from behind him. He thought he heard the Bandit gleefully mutter "'Zu-Zu'?"

"Why, you can't see the resemblance? Then again, Zu-Zu seems to have grown so anal retentive and stoic that you may not see it, but I am his little sister."

He heard the others breath in, but he ignored them, "How are you alive? You _died_ fourteen years ago!"

"Honestly, Zu-Zu, you underestimate Father and I so much. Oh, yes, he's alive, get a hold of yourself. Unlike you and our fuddy-duddy uncle, we knew discretion, and that our family talents are far too… _great_ to be used as… willy-nilly as you and Uncle think they should be. We are superior beings, Zu-Zu, meant to stand on the lesser beings who populate this world."

Zuko's mind was working at a million miles an hour, "…you faked your deaths, formed Black Flame after you disappeared."

She chuckled silently, "You're no longer that dim-witted child you used to be," Her eyes drifted over this companions, "But, alas, it seems you still have the same poor taste in pets."

"While your company is so much better. A collection of some of the most dangerous criminals in the world, all rounded up for the purpose of world domination."

"Don't say 'world domination' in that tone, you make it sound so trite and… simplistic. We are taking our rightful place in the world. Humans are animals, and _we_ are the top predators. And these," she motioned to her allies, "Father, and myself are the alphas, the Ultimates."

"Convenient for you." Suki said.

"Not convenient. _Right_. Might _means_ right, after all." She looked at them, "It's not like _you_ are above it all. Especially those of you with inhuman abilities. Painted Lady, Blind Bandit, Slipstream… you three use your abilities to keep the 'criminal element' of your cities under your heels."

"That's different!" Slipstream cried.

"Is it?" Azula sneered, "You see them as something… lesser. That they're doing something wrong, and you solve it with physical force. We see the weakness in the world, and we're aiming to fix it."

"That argument is flawed," the Painted Lady said, "We do not use our abilities and strengths to better ourselves, but protect those who cannot protect themselves. I, at least, do not derive joy from what I do. It is a duty, not recreation."

Azula gave a derisive snort as the other two vigilantes nodded in agreement. She glanced at her watch, "As charming as these ideals are, I'm afraid I have a schedule to keep. And, frankly, I cannot let you grow into anything more than an annoyance." She grinned wickedly and leapt into the air, jets of fire blasting from her feet, and loosed a blue fireball.

Zuko blasted off after her, dissipating the fireball as he flew, and collided with her, carrying them both through the ceiling and onto the roof. He heard fighting break out below him, and wished his allies luck.

He had a score to settle.

* * *

Toph Beifong loved a good fight, it was in her nature.

So as soon as Sparks had carried his crazy sister through the roof and charged them, she went straight for what she deemed the biggest threat in the room; the biggest guy in the room. Well, guy may be an operative term, considering he was eleven feet tall and covered in scales, but still.

She launched herself into Zhao, a deafening crack ringing out as her fist collided with his scales.

He staggered a bit, and she landed, dodging around him, and grasping his tail, and heaved, throwing him through a wall, and leapt after him.

She had overestimated the strength she put into her throw, and the monster had plowed through several; ending up outside. However, he laughed as he got to his feet, "Well, kid. You're stronger than Fire Lord is, the thing is…" he shot forwards with surprising speed, grasping her around her waist and slammed her into the ground.

The impact made her breath leave her body.

"I'm the strongest there is."

* * *

The Painted Lady dissolved into mist, allowing the popping, condensed stream of air to pass through her, before flying towards P'li. Her opponent's eyes were flicking around, trying to find her, when the mist condensed into a thick rope of water, and snagged P'li around her waist tossing her towards a remaining catwalk far above their heads.

P'li adapted quickly, grasping the railing of the walk as she passed it, shifting her weight, and landing nimbly as the Painted Lady reformed a few feet away. She gave the spirit-woman a calculating look, "Clever, putting me in position where I am unable to utilize the full strength of my primary offensive ability without destroying the platform and causing me to lose balance and possibly fall," something approaching a smile graced her lips, before she shot forwards jamming her mechanical hand towards the Painted Lady.

She turned to mist, but pain still blasted through her.

"Electrodes in my arm give me close-range combat capability."

She pulled back her arm, and the Painted Lady turned solid, utterly thrown by the electrical shock. P'li swung her mechanical leg around, cracking the spirit-woman's head.

* * *

Aang shot into the hallways of Factory 3, the angered roars of the Hippo echoing behind him. On impulse, he had attacked the mountainous man, figuring that between him and the rock-covered one, Aang would be able to fight him easiest.

Except that the Hippo had taken everything he had and just _smiled_.

So he caught one of the compacted balls of rock and metal and flung it back at the Hippo, as hard as he could. While it didn't do anything impressive, it had definitely pissed him off.

Aang knew he had to lead the Hippo somewhere, to get him in some sort of situation where he can get the advantage, so he was running at a speed nowhere close to his top speed.

A hunk of what seemed to be a door, crunched into a ball, flew past his head.

He needed to find that advantage soon.

* * *

Everything seemed to happen in a blur, the Bandit crashing into that Zhao-thing, the Painted Lady taking her fight upwards, and the Hippo lumbering away after Slipstream.

It left Suki, the archer, and the Boulder staring at each other.

Suki leaned close to the archer, her dual pistols drawn, "Waddya say, bow-boy? You and me against the Rock?" He nodded, bow drawn.

The Boulder huffed, "The name's 'Boulder'. And the Boulder can take anything you losers can dish out!" He flexed, and the gray stone covering his skin briefly broke, before reforming into dozens upon dozens of razor-sharp spikes.

"Okay, didn't expect that." Suki muttered, as the Boulder charged.

* * *

Azula broke free from his grasp, and reignited her jets, slipping behind him, and swinging her elbow, catching him in the small of his back.

He dropped a few feet before steadying himself, and rocketed back towards his sister, lashing out a boot as he got near. She caught it, and swung around quickly, throwing him towards the ground.

He managed to land on his feet, but Azula's shoe collided with his face, knocking him to the ground, her on top of him. A clawed hand shot towards his face, but he caught it, the other one as well when it swung too. He heaved her down, bringing his head up, into her nose, a crunching noise ringing out.

She screamed and leapt off of him, clutching her nose. As he leapt to his feet, she snarled at him, her hand coming away from her broken nose, "Bastard." She ran forwards, and slid under a punch, slashing at his thigh with her claws.

Zuko yelled, dropping to one knee, and Azula took advantage of the opening, smashing her fist against his head.

* * *

Toph rolled out of the way of Zhao's tail, and punched his leg, eliciting a grunt from the monster. He growled and struck, but his massive fist missed, as she jumped up, landing on his back.

He began to thrash around, attempting to dislodge her, but she grasped the edged of his scales as hard as she could, all the while driving her knees into his back.

He stood up straight, leaning backwards and Toph suddenly felt gravity take over. She swung out her feet, catching her and the big lizard before they hit the ground. She hefted, his weight, shifting so she was carrying him.

"Put me down!" Zhao protested, struggling.

"Sure!" She jumped, carrying him with her, and swung, slamming him headfirst into the ground. Landing on his stomach, she picked up her foot, intending to stomp on him, but a fist lashed out, knocking her away.

She landed on the dusty ground, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. As she hauled herself to her feet, and had to briefly wonder if the old dragons had been this strong. Bracing a hand against the ground, she suddenly felt _something_ under there. A distinct humming feeling… electricity. A lot of it.

 _'That's right,'_ she thought, _'Sparks said that the generators for the_ turrets _were on site. It seems like the building's power is from outside, to seem less suspicious maybe?"_

Massive footsteps made their way towards her, and she stayed still, on top of the underground power lines. "So much for the legendary _Blind Bandit_ ," she could _hear_ the smirk in his voice, "I wonder how hard it will be to pull your head from your body. I want it as a trophy." He hauled back and struck-

But missed.

She dodged to the side, and his fist crashed through the ground, into the power lines.

She heard a crackling noise, and a pained roar as the monster staggered around, clutching his fist to his chest.

"My turn." Toph cackled, and leapt forwards, smashing her fist against Zhao's scaled stomach. He doubled over in pain, and she jumped up, uppercutting his big head.

He collapsed to the ground, but was still struggling, attempting to get to his feet. She stepped back, before running forwards and kicking, like a professional earth-ball player.

Zhao fell to the ground, his breath shallowing, as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"And _that_ is why _I_ am the best." Toph said cockily.

* * *

The Painted Lady dodged an electrified arm, and moved inside P'li's reach, and punched her in the gut and head, before evaporating and escaping the swing of the statuesque woman's electrical hand.

The spirit-woman's arm turned into a tentacle of water, and lashed out, grasping her opponent around the throat, and yanked P'li off-balance, before striking her in the face, knocking her down. However, she recovered quickly, flipping onto her stomach, and grasping the Painted Lady's ankle, unleashing a blast of electricity that ripped through her body.

She fell to her side, and- through the haze of pain- saw P'li practically jump from her prone position, landing on the Painted Lady, mechanical leg pinning her down. The leg hummed oddly, before a loud banging noise ripped from it, a blast of pure force ripping through the spirit-woman, form. She shouted in pain, before exploding into a cloud of near-invisible vapor. She reformed in front of P'li, before pulling water from the air, turning it into icicles, and launching them towards the National woman.

P'li brought up the mechanical hand and crouched, minimizing her form, preventing the ice from slicing her flesh.

The Painted Lady evaporated again, sweeping behind P'li as she defended herself against the icicles, and kicked the National woman in the back. She tumbled away, and the spirit-woman closed into press her attack, when P'li dodged around her, grasping her arms and pulsing electricity through her form.

The Painted Lady shouted in pain, but the other woman maintained her painful grip.

Steeling her mind, she gritted her teeth, and forced her body to morph.

Her entire body _shifted-_ partly turning to mush, partly turning around- so she was facing P'li.

She had done a lot of weird things with shape-shifting and vaporization, but that ranked as one of the weirdest.

She spat a blob of water, which froze as soon as it hit P'li's eyes, causing her to panic and let go of the spirit-woman.

The Painted Lady pressed her advantage, striking rapidly at the National woman, before gathering up water- from the water, and her internal reserves- and creating a huge wave that collided with P'li.

It carried her down the catwalk, and against the door that lead into the hallways, and froze, trapping her from the neck down.

The Painted Lady barely had a moment to feel good about her victory, when P'li's mechanical arm ripped free of the ice, and grasped the ice blindfold, crushing it in her grasp. With the first sign of emotion the Painted Lady had seen from the woman, she glared at the Painted Lady, growling out, "Screw balance."

The oval on her headband sparked bright white, before what appeared to be a compressed stream of air- containing several sparks- blasted out from it. On instinct, the Painted Lady evaporated, allowing the stream to fly through. She watched it collide with the opposite wall, a large explosion ripping a hole in it.

She turned her attention back to P'li, who had smashed most of her ice prison to dust with her metal hand, and was standing tall, searching the air for the Painted Lady.

The spirit-woman solidified, and flew in closely, a palm filled with water.

The oval sparked yellow.

The water collided with the headband, encasing the woman's forehead, quickly solidifying into ice.

There was a loud bang, and P'li fell to the ground.

The Painted Lady turned the woman over, and saw that her headband was charred black and heavily dented, the skin around it was singed and burned.

After a moment of hesitation, she granted a small act of mercy, light touching P'li's forehead, causing fresh, pink skin to grow over the burns.

She pulled her hand away before her healing touch could affect P'li's concussion.

The Painted Lady stumbled over to the door and leaned against it, sinking to the floor, ' _Just five minutes,'_ a very Katara part of her mind said.

* * *

Aang almost gave up when- after searching through several doors for _anything_ that could help him out, he accidentally ran outside through a fire exit.

He turned around swiftly, only to see the hulking mass of the Hippo squeeze through the doorway. The massive man growled, before tearing the door of its hinges, and bringing it up to bite into as if it was a very large sandwich.

Aang zig-zagged around, easily avoiding the hunks of metal, as he tried to think about a solution.

 _'Okay, so, tthe Bandit fought this guy before, and said he was easy to beat, or something like that. Of course,_ she _could, she's freaky strong, apparently. She's fighting that dragon monster, after all.'_

The Hippo stalked further outside as he chewed up the door, spitting out more missiles.

 _'I just don't have the strength to fight him. All of my attacks just bounce off of his fat… and his head is too hard for any of my attacks to hurt him… if only I was stronger.'_

A slug of metal passed by his head, and something came to mind.

He turned away from the Hippo, and _ran_.

He tore through the front gate of the perimeter wall, and ran for several quick miles, before doing a u-turn, and making his way back towards Factory 3.

 _'Faster, faster, faster, faster…'_ he chanted in his head, as he ran harder and harder.

He felt a jolt hit his body, but he kept going, and suddenly, the Hippo was in front of him.

He jumped up, smashing his fist into the Hippo's head, and skidded to a stop after landing, only to be nearly knocked over by a blast of wind which seemed to have followed him. The Hippo was not so lucky, and was thrown off of his feet, smacking into the wall of the factory.

Aang stumbled over to him, checking his pulse. He grinned, before patting the big man's stomach, "You'll live. But I don't envy the headache you'll have."

He stood up, and couldn't resist one more line, "Force is mass times acceleration. I just had to go fast enough to get strong enough. And uh, from that wind… and the weird thump I felt... I might've hit the sound barrier…" he realized he was speaking to an unconscious man, and grinned, "Well, what do you care? You're knocked out."

* * *

 _'This may have been a bad idea'_ Longshot thought as the Boulder's fist missed his head by a few inches, punching through a metal wall.

The Armed Woman, as he had taken to calling his companion, had lent him her customized rifle when it proved that his arrows didn't have the power to penetrate the Boulder's toughened skin.

 _'Not that bullets do much better either'_ , he thought to himself, as he fired off several rounds. The bullets would actually crack the rocky shell, but that was the problem. They didn't remove enough mass to leave the Boulder vulnerable. The cracks would quickly fuse shut within a few seconds anyway, so they couldn't be exploited. The only thing they managed to do was lure him into the hallways, where they could avoid him easier than out in the large, open factory floor.

A small canister flew in from around the corner, landing at the Boulder's feet. It quickly exploded into a cloud of smoke, and the Armed Woman appeared by Longshot's side, tugging him down a hallway. "This wasn't the best idea." She muttered.

He nodded in agrement.

"What do you have?"

He lifted the gun slightly, then motioned to his bow and quiver.

"Happen to have any trick arrows?"

He gave her a flat look, trying to convey _'I'm practically a bounty hunter, not a scientist, how could I have trick arrows?'_.

"I have my pistols, two concussion grenades… and a shock-prod in my boot," he gave her a questioning look, "What? The shock prod? It's good for getting mooks to talk."

He tapped his chin, none of the weapons would be good against a rock-man. If they could only… he snapped his fingers, coming up with an idea. _'Lady, I hope you understand this'_ he thought, before beginning to point at various pieces of equipment they had, while making a variety of hand motions.

She stared at him for half a beat, before smiling, "Archer guy, you are a _genius_!"

* * *

Suki slid out into the hallway that the Boulder was stalking, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Yo! Rocks-for-brains!"

"Hey!" He shouted, indignant, before charging towards her.

Her arm whipped out, tossing the concussion grenade she had tucked behind her back.

She thanked every spirit she could think of that she had gotten the timing down, and the grenade exploded against the Boulder's chest, causing him to stagger. A series of large cracks had appeared on his chest, but they were rapidly sealing up.

The archer rolled out from behind her and took aim, firing an arrow.

It slipped in between the cracks, sinking into the real skin underneath.

The Boulder cried out in pain, as Suki lunged forwards, shock prod in hand, touching it to the shaft of one of the arrows.

The ex-street thug released a pained yell, his rocky shell breaking off into fragments, before falling to one knee. She brought the prod back, intending on giving him another shock, when another arrow went thought the Boulder's eye, into his brain.

He fell to the ground, dead.

She turned to the archer, "I was handling that."

He frowned at her.

She felt odd. She had killed numerous times in the past but… they had rarely been in a case where the other person was at her mercy. Usually, she killed in the heat of battle, and left opponent alive if she had disabled them in some way. The only other time was her little rooftop conversation, but that had been for necessity… or so she kept telling herself.

Suki shook her head, "Whatever, it's… it's fine. Let's find the others."

* * *

"Come on, Zu-Zu, don't lose consciousness now, I've barely gotten started." Azula taunted circling him as he lay on his hands and knees, summoning the strength to keep going.

Azula wasn't, by any means, extremely stronger than he was, but she outclassed him enough that it had taken a toll. Long scratches from her claws ripped open his uniform and tore the skin underneath, bruises were starting to form from her numerous punches and kicks, and he could feel a rib shifting oddly from a particularly vicious attack.

"This is why you were so disappointing to Father. He had been one of the strongest hybrids to have been born in over a century. And then he had you, and- by the age of eight- you hadn't made so much as a spark." She tutted, "At least I was born. I was throwing fire balls when I was four. And look! Even when you did develop your abilities… I'm _still_ better than you."

She crouched next to him, "I guess that I got all of Father's strength… while you only got Mother's weakness."

She pulled back a bit, before throwing a power-fueled punch.

Zuko's hand shot up, and caught her fist. Using it to swiftly pull himself up, he brought up a leg, and kicked her square in the chest, knocking her away. He leapt after her, landing several body blows, before she blocked, and they began trading punches, each impact echoing from the force behind it.

Azula lashed out with a clawed hand, but Zuko managed to knock it away, throwing her slightly off balance.

 _'Now's my chance.'_

His hand went to his swords- strapped onto his back- and unsheathed them, swinging them at Azula.

She ducked back as they flew by her face. She stared at him for a beat, then suddenly screamed, pressing her hand against the left side of her face. The hand came away, covered in blood, and Zuko saw the effect of his sword-swing. A several-inch long slash that cut diagonally across her face, from her hairline- above her eyebrow- down, touching the edge of her lips, to her chin.

Zuko couldn't help but grin, "Looks good with the broken nose."

Azula didn't bother with words. She glanced at something- a watch, perhaps?- on her wrist, before leaping backwards, propelling herself into the air with her jets. Zuko was about to fly after her, when she made a circular motion with her arms… an _electricity_ began to spark and arc around her. She thrust out her hand and a lightning bolt blasted out from it.

He dodged the bolt by only a few feet, blasting into the air to avoid the electricity that would race through the ground when it hit. While he was confident he could handle the heat, the actual electricity… that was an unknown.

He turned his eyes upwards to see one of the Vanguard VTOL craft descend from the clouds, and hover close to his sister, who flew after it, landing in an opened doorway. She turned back to him, shouting "Unfortunately, Brother, I'll have to cut our playdate short! But don't worry, we'll see each other again." She slipped inside, and the hatch closed behind her.

Zuko made to chase after the aircraft, but- like well over a year ago, when he had last met Zhao- the ship fired several grenades at him. After blasting apart some and avoiding the rest, the aircraft was already gone.

* * *

"Ultimates, come in, Ultimates," Azula said, tapping her earpiece, "Hippo? Boulder? Zhao? P'li? Anyone?" Radio silence. She snarled, "Looks like I underestimated his little friends too."

Azula stalked to the rear of the _Usurper_ , stopping at a computer terminal. She tapped a few keys before pulling the computer's microphone to her mouth, "Attention all Black Flame units in Jilin province. This is General Azula Ogata. I am issuing a general evacuation order. I want everyone packed and gone from the region within the hour. You all know your designated fall-back locations. Retreat, and await further orders."

She knew a fallback order was necessary to mitigate losses. Her brother and his brigade of super-friends would have torn through her soldiers like tissue paper, and would've probably extradited those they didn't kill. That didn't stop the anger from filling her. While Jilin may not have been critically important- save for Factory 3- it was _hers_. And for the first time in his damned-pathetic life, her spineless brother had taken something that was _hers_.

"Do you need help, General?" A voice asked.

Her eyes flickered over, resting on a soldier who was staring- half curiously, half concerned- at her slashed face and crushed nose. She growled, and flicked her hand, sending a bolt of blue fire through his heart. "Impertinent fool." She muttered. She brought up a hand, wiping away some of the blood that was flowing down her face. "I underestimated you, brother, I'll fully admit that. But next time…" her hand clenched, blood from her face oozing from inside the fist, "I'll be prepared."

* * *

The Black Flame grunts were all hogtied next to each other. P'li, the Hippo, and Zhao were laid out on the ground, side-by-side. Teo flitted from one to the other, adjusting the masks they now wore, and the tanks of tranquilizer the masks were attached to. The Boulder's body was laid on a rolling cart, arms folded to held maintain a type of dignity.

Zuko hadn't been surprised that the Boulder was the only casualty on the Black Flame side. He had gone up against a super-assassin and a very unnerving archer. Thankfully, Slipstream- the only one Zuko could tell was completely against killing- only made a face, but not much else.

Thanks to the radios in the Black Flame guards' helmets, they had all been privy to Azula's broadcast, so they decided to just chill out at the Factory, and wait for a specialized National unit that would transport Azula's "Ultimates". So now he was sitting against the factory wall, Suki dozing next to him, he Bandit and Slipstream lounged a few feet away, and the Painted Lady floated, half-formed, a few yards in the air.

The booted feet of the archer came into view, and he sat down in front of Zuko, facing him. He made swift hand motions that Zuko quickly identified as sign language, but he couldn't understand it. "I'm sorry, I don't…"

"He knows sign language?" An ethereal voice spoke. Zuko's eyes turned to rest on the Painted Lady, who drifted down from where she was floating, "I can understand it. I took a few classes during high school."

"Do you mind translating?"

"Not at all." the archer began making several motions, "He first wants to say that his name is Longshot, and that 'They were building something in the factory. It looks like a suit. The General Azula said it was for her- your father'."

"A suit? Mechanical?"

"'Yes. But large, perhaps eleven feet tall. White metal, red bird on the chest. They were coating the insides of it with some sort of mineral. The project manager called it…'" she hesitated as Longshot made the same few motions several times in a row, slowly, "'So… soz- sozin- sozinite.'"

"Sozinite… that sound familiar to anyone?" He asked his companions, who all shook their heads. He looked out to Teo, "Tailor! Ever heard of 'sozinite'?"

He stood up from adjusting the tranquilizer attached to Zhao's muzzle, "Erm… yeah, yeah, I've heard of it. It's a really, really rare material. Only found in the impact craters of certain meteorites, and usually only in small quantities, from the size of a small pebble to a grain of sand. It's being studied by the Space Program for… an experimental fuel source, I think? Something to do with propulsion…"

Zuko scratched his chin, "Interesting." He looked at Longshot, "Changing the subject a bit, you infiltrated this place by yourself?"

"'Yes. Azula showed up while I was scouting the main floor, which is how I learned more about the suit and that they were using sozinite.'"

"Impressive. Listen, I know you're a loner, but between that and your skill with a bow… I'd like to offer you a place on our team. We're a response team, meant to tackle particularly difficult situations, like the one that had developed here. We aren't some sort of club, who just hang out in the clubhouse until called on. We do our own thing until we're needed."

Longshot hesitated for a second, before nodding.

Zuko fished a communicator from his pocket and held it out, "So you can know when we're getting together, and so you can let us know if you find anything."

The archer took it, tossed it up in the air, before catching it and sticking it in his pocket. He made more hand motions, "'I have to go now, my car is still parked in the city.'"

"You want a lift?"

"'No. I could use the walk. Goodbye.'" Longshot turned on his heel, and walked into the night.

"Ooo! How mysterious!" The Bandit drawled.

Zuko smiled at that, before turning to the spirit-woman, and motioning her to follow him, stopping a few feet away from the others. He turned to her, "How do you know about hybrids… you know, dragon-children?"

"I have seen many things in my long existence. I have met your people before, albeit, they used to exist in greater numbers."

Zuko's eyebrow arched, "How old are you?"

"This body is twenty-six. But my spirit is over ten thousand years old."

"Uh…"

She smiled, "I am two beings. A spirit, and a human, living in one body. The spirit- the true Painted Lady- is an ancient spirit of rivers, estuaries, and healing. The human is a tribeswoman about your age."

Zuko gave her a look, before shrugging, "Hey, why not. I can shoot fire from my hands, and that little girl over there could probably level a whole city if she wished, while the boy could outrun a jet fighter. I don't really think I have the room to be skeptical." He pinched his nose, "But I got off topic. The other dragon-children you've met… could any of them shoot lighting?"

She weaseling for a few moments, before nodding, "Yes, I've only met about two, however. Apparently, it requires a significant amount of power, and a superb level of control… your sister could generate lightning, couldn't she?"

"Yes, it's why she got away. It distracted me so much that she was able to escape."

The Painted Lady brought a hand to her chin, "If I remember correctly, dragons were known to redirect natural lightning bolts…"

"'Redirect'?" Zuko nodded as he thought of it, "I'll look into it. Thank you."

The spirit-woman gazed critically at him, "How many of you are left?"

"Well, now that my sister and, apparently, my father are still alive, it's us three, and my uncle. We're the last ones. There used to be nearly fifty families, but- like any group of 'elites', they liked to breed with each other. Over hundreds of years… we shrank in number. Eventually, there were two families left, and my mother married my father."

"Your mother was a hybrid as well?"

Zuko grew uncomfortable, "Yes, but I'm not sure how strong she was when it came to the, uh, fire stuff. She died when I was nine. Cancer."

"My condolences. I too lost a mother." He gave her a slightly confused look, and she chuckled slightly, "The human me, not the spirit me," a distant look came to her turquoise eyes.

"You don't have to talk about it. I know it's difficult. Plus, y'know, we barely know each other."

Her eyes cleared and she nodded, "True."

Zuko's mouth then decided it was a good time to rebel, "Though, I wouldn't mind getting to know you better."

Both flushed bright red.

* * *

Toph cackled as she listened to Sparks and the water-woman stammer at each other after Sparks' little slip. Slipstream perked up next to her, "What's so funny?"

"Nothin'. Just… something I was thinking about."

"Oh."

Toph let the slightly awkward silence stew for a bit, letting the other teenager get all agitated, before breaking the silence, "Gotta say, I'm impressed you managed to take out the Hippo."

"Yeah, he's _really_ tough! You said you beat him pretty easy?"

"Well, I _am_ the strongest person on the planet."

It was another few seconds before Slipstream asked, "How do you see even though you're blind?"

"I'm just that good."

He kept fidgeting, and Toph laughed, smacking his shoulder, "Calm down, Twinkletoes, I'm just busting your balls."

" _'Twinkletoes'_?"

"I'm workshopping some nicknames for our little group. Fire Lord already has his- Sparks. Because, y'know, fire n' shit. You're light on your feet, so you're Twinkletoes."

"I approve." Kyoshi-4 murmured, eyes still closed.

"Eyy! You're awake!" Toph cried out.

"I couldn't let a pint-sized brat do the nicknaming without even my say." A lazy, bright blue eye opened.

"So I get no say in my own nickname?" The speedster asked.

"Nope. You think Sparks wanted me to call him Sparks? He still gets all pissy about it on his bad days. Where is he anyway?"

"Sparks and the water-girl are around the corner, doing _something_."

"What? What are they doing?" The teenaged boy asked.

Kyoshi-4 talked before Toph could, "Please, runt, Sparks is _terrible_ with girls."

"Really?" Both teenagers asked together.

"Yeah. Hey! Tailor!" The techie looked up from his tablet, "Is Sparks good with women?"

"Nope. If he likes them, he goes to pieces when interacting with them in anything other than a professional setting. At the end of a date once, after the girl had kissed him, he panicked, gave her a coupon for his uncle's teahouse, and ran away."

The other three broke into laughter.

Toph sat straight up, "Wait! I hear something… helicopter." She pointed out into the night.

* * *

Zuko thanked several spirits when he heard the helicopter blades cutting through the night, breaking the awkward silence that had settled on him and the Painted Lady. "Oh, um, I should go and…" He started walking backwards.

"Yeah! I mean, yes, you should… I'll um, go join the others." She started to drift away, before turning back, "Oh, and Fire Lord?"

"Hmm?" He didn't trust his mouth.

"I… would like to get to know you as well."

He hesitated for a second, before extending a hand, knowing it was proper in the Water Tribes, "Zuko."

"Huh?"

"That's my name."

"Why tell me?"

"You already know a bunch of personal stuff about me, plus… I trust you."

She looked at his hand, before extending her own, grasping his forearm, "Katara."

"Now, uh, I have to go talk to officials and, uh, stuff."

She nodded, and evaporated.

Zuko took a moment to compose himself, before stalking back, passing the trio of unconscious superhumans, over to where a massive transport helicopter was setting down.

The rear cargo door slid down, revealing an squadron of soldiers dressed in dark red, lead by a graying man with thick sideburns, wearing a commander's uniform. Commander Taizo Jee, Zuko's commander when he had served as the Blue Spirit.

He resisted the urge to run forwards and give the man a hug. While his uncle had raised him, Jee had been the one to really straighten Zuko out, instilling the sense of duty to the world that he carried to this day. Instead, he gave a respectful bow.

Jee bowed as well, "Fire Lord. I am Commander Taizo Jee, of the Fire Nation's superhuman containment unit."

"It's an honor. The Omashu forces…?"

"Are touching down throughout the region, we came here directly for your, ah, special cargo."

Zuko nodded, before turning around, "Tailor?"

Teo trotted over, and Zuko mentally thanked him for remembering to put on a domino mask when the helicopter landed. He turned to Jee, "This is Tailor, my technology expert. He can brief your men about containing these superhumans."

Teo gave a swift bow, which Jee reciprocated, before turning to his men, motioning them to follow the techie.

Zuko and Jee stood together, watching the men begin to gather up, not just the superhumans, but the foot soldiers too. He turned and gave his former commander a raised eyebrow, "The non-powered as well?"

"That's more of an errand we're running for United World. They'll be put on trial for, well, anything. At least a few are probably wanted for various war crimes, let alone anything they might've gotten up to here."

"Mm-hm."

"Who're those four, by the factory?"

"Associates I picked up to help me with this operation. Kyoshi-4, of course, is the woman sprawled on the ground-" he stopped for a second, as they stepped aside to let Jee's men carry aboard the unconscious Ultimates. "The floating one is the Painted Lady, from Southern City. The small woman is the Blind Bandit, from Gaoling, and the man in orange and black is Slipstream, from Yangchen."

"Odd grouping."

"It was necessary."

They fell into silence, watching the team finish packing up and restraining the Black Flame forces.

Jee nodded, "Fire Lord, thank you, and extend my thanks to your team. You've done fantastic work here." He turned to walk onto the helicopter, the propellers already spinning, before saying, in a soft voice, "I'm proud of you, kid." He strode aboard, the ramp pulling up behind him.

Zuko watched the helicopter fly away.

"Zu- Fire Lord, are you alright?" Zuko turned to see the Painted Lady. "Huh? Uh, yeah. I am." He cleared his throat, before saying, "Okay, everyone! Our job here is done. Let's move out!"

* * *

Out in the Jilin countryside, Longshot lay in his car, watching the starry night sky. He pulled the communicator from his pocket and stared at it, turning it over in his hands. He grinned.

In Gaoling, Toph Beifong crashed out on her dirty mattress, muttering, "Best decision I ever made," before passing out.

Aang sheepishly knocked on his front door, which seemed to swing out from underneath his hand. Gyatso poked him in the chest, "Don't run off like that again!" Then swept the teenager up into a hug. After a few moments, he pulled back, his hands on Aang's shoulders, "Now… tell me what ridiculous good deed you felt was so important that you ran off with only a note."

Her color shifted to her natural state of brown, while the red dress reformed into the sweats she had been wearing when she had left. Katara sighed in relief and lay down on her bed. She fiddled with a scrap of paper, examining the phone number hastily scrawled out, before sticking it in her bedside drawer. She rolled over, eyes closing… only for her first alarm to go off. "Mother _fucker_!" She shouted into her pillow.

Teo snored onboard the parked _Flare_ , too tired to try and drive home.

After stopping in the bunker, Suki and Zuko stumbled into the apartment, much to Iroh's surprise. He recovered quickly, "Care for some tea?"

Zuko stared at his uncle, before motioning Suki to go on to her room. He sat at the table, next to Iroh, "Uncle… there's something I need to tell you…"

* * *

 ** _Uncharted Island, Northeastern Great Sea_**

Azula entered her father's office in a way that could only be described as 'timid'. A series of stitches ran down her face, and a splint sat on her nose. It was the first time such obvious injuries had decorated her face.

Ozai was silent, staring at her. His left sleeve was rolled up, the IV in his arm having only recently been replaced. He finally broke the silence, "I will admit, Azula, I am disappointed. We lost our supply factories, the facility best suited to completing the Phoenix Armor, and our superhuman assets. Not to mention that your brother is still alive."

"Father I-"

He held up a hand, quieting her. "However, we still have the armor. And when it's complete… I will crush your brother under my heel like the insect he is."

* * *

A/N: Woweeeee! I didn't expect this to turn out _nearly_ as long as it did. Oh, man. Well, from the top, down.

I had to put in a little villain monologuing and trying to poke holes in the heroes' thought process, not only is it a solid trope, its something in line with Azula. And _yes_ the group now know Zuko's nickname is Zu-Zu, but (except for Katara- more on that in a bit) they still don't know his real name, or his identity (again, more on that in a bit).

Oh, and to reviewer Anonymous Rex, Azula's team being named the Ultimates _is_ a take-that to the Marvel team _Ultimates_. Because, y'know, they're a bunch of weird assholes (Hulk is a _cannibal!_ ).

Also on them, the pairing-off happened because a- I couldn't come up with a good way for an all vs all fight, and b- I wanted to play with their various skill sets, and have the heroes test their ingenuity. I think I did an overall okay job, you can correct me if I'm wrong.

I tried to _not_ kill the Boulder, but Longshot kept shooting him in the head, because he's well, _Longshot_ , he doesn't take prisoners.

Yes, Aang did go supersonic. I wanted to play off of a joke about the modern Flash tv show, that he keeps complaining about not being able to go faster, by having him _have_ to go as fast as he can to try and overpower the Hippo.

I enjoyed writing the Painted Lady vs P'li fight, even if P'li didn't get to use her combustion powers… like, at all. Only once. But in close combat, she wouldn't be able to. Either way…

And the Zuko vs Azula fight, I went through a lot of revisions (including one where they took off their clothes, and pretty much had a fancy boxing match in their underwear. It was weird… and filled with an uncomfortable sexual tension…) before creating a slug-fest sort of thing. Zuko won only because he struck at one of the few thing that Azula holds in high regard- her beauty. She is vain, even in canon. _Very_ vain. That's why, in this, she fights in a special-made suit, and freaked out when Zuko sliced her face in half.

We will be seeing more of the Hippo, P'li, and Zhao, they're in prison in a superhero universe (guess what prison they'll be in. Go ahead, what's the one prison you remember being named in the canon series).

And we'll see crazier fight-scenes.

On the stuff after, it's pretty self-explanatory. They're establishing their rapport, Toph being an annoying kid, Suki her enabler, Aang a victim. Meanwhile, Zuko shows more of the Adorkable Zuko he hides underneath all his military professionalism, and Katara finds him interesting (that _is_ his phone number at the end, in case you didn't realize).

Jee's a cool guy, Zuko's old commander, and pretty much served as his father figure during his time with the Spirits. He'd figure out Zuko was the Fire Lord. We'll see more of him.

Oh! And the Great Sea is the ocean that's on the other side of the world. The total size of the Earthen Continent and the Fire Nation etc. is about the size of Eurasia, and sits on one side of the planet. The other side is ocean & a few islands.

While I haven't written it yet, I've pretty much figured out the main… events of the story. The first was _Fire Lord and Kyoshi-4_ (I renamed the chapters of just those two to the formula of FL  & K4: [Former chapter title]), this is _Vanguard_.

Seems to be about it…

(over 7,000 words, oh, man!)

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Comment below!

NEXT TIME: The origin of the enigmatic, armored hero: Black Wolf.


	18. Black Wolf: The Hunt

The Hunt

 _A sword of unbelievable power, made of a material that never breaks, never dulls. It turns its user into an unstoppable engine of war, encasing them in the same substance, making them into the Black Wolf. It is said that the sword's first wielder was Kuruk, a warrior of the Water Tribes, who lived thousands of years ago. The origins of the sword itself are shrouded in mystery. Some say it was forged by Kuruk himself made from a stone that fell from the sky. Others maintain that it was a friend of Kuruk's, a gift to a warrior. But still others say that it was made by a spirit, for a spirit, and fell to Earth by mistake. Whatever the "true" origins are, the Black Blade's discovery (or, technically, rediscovery) would be an archeologist's dream._

 _-_ Encyclopedia of Tribal Legends, introduction to the 'Black Blade' entry

* * *

Shin leaned against his usual alley wall, grinning at the occasional passerby, muttering, phrases like, "I got the good stuff," and "Juice from the Si Wong Desert itself!"

Occasionally, someone would stop, slip him some money, and they would receive a small envelope containing two pale green pills in return.

After about an hour, a beat cop walked up to him. Shin eyed him, "Evenin' officer Tarnook. Interested in some cactus juice to lift your spirits?"

Tarnook frowned, and held out a hand. Shin sighed, and fished a thick envelope and handed it over to the detective. Tarnook opened it, grinning at the pale blue bills, before glancing at Shin, "Have a good night."

Tarnook strolled away, Shin's muttered curses at his back. He cut through an alleyway, intending to take a subway ride back to the good side of town. Tarnook was what some might have called a "dirty cop", but he preferred to think of himself as pragmatic. After all, who cares if some idiots got cheap highs off of cactus juice? Might as well make money off of it, it wasn't murder, after all.

An odd feeling came over him, and he looked up, but saw nothing. He scanned the rooftops and fire escapes, but saw nothing that could've given him the feeling of being watched. He shrugged, and kept walking.

Suddenly, something grabbed the back of his collar, and pulled him down, slamming him into the ground. He groaned in pain, while his hand went towards his gun- only for a heavy, metal boot to pin his hand to the ground. Another boot pressed on his chest, and something sharp poked his throat. He opened his eyes, and stifled a shout of panic. His attacker was a man dressed in dark black, almost medieval armor, the helmet stylized to resemble a wolf's head, but he could see no human eyes behind the eyeholes. A long sword of a similar black material was aimed at Tarnook's throat.

"Detective Tarnook."

"Y-yes?"

"You're going to answer my questions, or I'll make this alley look like an abstract painting."

"Sure, sure! I'll tell you anything!"

"Good choice. Now, where is Blue Tsunami bringing their drugs through?"

"I-"

"Don't say you don't know. This is your beat, and they've obviously told to keep your overly large nose out of certain areas. Now… where are they bringing the cactus juice through?"

"I- I dunno… I never saw!" The boot pressed down harder, and the sword poked his throat, "B-but I have a guess! They keep me away from the docks, pier fifteen mostly, and from a few apartments in the area!"

"What're the addresses of these apartments?"

Tarnook rattled them off.

The man titled his head, "One more thing… do you know of any other cops on their payroll?"

The cop laughed, he couldn't help it, "This is Northern City. _Every_ cop is being paid by someone."

There were a few seconds of silence, before the figure spoke again, "Don't let me catch you being paid off ever again. Or I'll break the other one."

"Other wh-AUGH!" He shouted in pain as the boot that had been pinning his hand down lifted up and stomped on his hand, breaking several bones.

Through the haze of pain he felt the thing move off and stalk away, muttering, "Smartass."

* * *

Pier fifteen was one of the smaller places to dock at Northern City, and terrible to get to from land as well. Piers sixteen and fourteen were made for large cargo ships, and as such, dozens of cargo containers had piled up around them, creating a maze of metal that kept fifteen out of sight and out of mind.

A perfect place for illicit activities.

Nutha took a small stuffed seal out from the crate, and sliced it open with her knife. She fished out a small plastic baggie from the stuffing, and examined the thin slice of cactus in it. Passing the animal to one of her men, she opened the bag and took a quick sniff. Nodding, she slipped the baggie into her coat and looked at Horuk, "Load the rest into the truck."

He turned towards his crew of about ten men and pointed at the truck. They quickly hopped to and began bringing the crates to the rear.

Horuk held his hand towards Nutha, coughing.

She rolled her eyes before placing a roll of bills into his hand. He grunted a thank you as he shoved the money into his pocket.

Nutha knew that this wasn't the best way to do business. She had heard it through the grapevine that juice-dealers in the warmer Earthen countries and the Fire Nation could grow their own stock. Unfortunately, she was the only high-ranking member of Blue Tsunami that seemed to have an issue with constantly importing cactuses that they could grow here. She was pretty sure Horuk was someone's cousin or something.

She blinked, and felt something was off. She spun around, and the two men who were supposed to be guarding her rear were gone. Her yes narrowed, as she unhooked a walkie talkie from her belt, "All guard teams, sound off."

"Team one."

"Team two."

"…"

"Team four."

"…"

"…"

She cursed, and Horuk looked at her, she answered his unasked question, "Someone's found us."

"Police?"

"No… they aren't this subtle." Nutha clicked the button on the walkie-talkie again, "One, two, four, we have an intruder, stay on high alert, cover each other's backs."

"Roger."

"Roger."

"…"

"Team four? Shit!" She pulled the walkie-talkie from her mouth, and shouted to the workers, "Double time! Now! You!" she said, pointing at one of the men, "Get behind the wheel!"

He nodded and zoomed towards the cab, which was hidden by container crates, shrouded in shadow.

There was a loud thump, then the man flew from the darkness, and skidded across the ground before rolling to a stop.

Everyone stopped to stare at him, and Nutha spoke quickly, "Everyone, stop what you're doing. Guns up. We'll finish packing when we get this joker. No one messes with the Blue Tsunami. Right?"

They all nodded vigorously, a few even giving quiet whoops, but they all put down their crates and pulled out a variety of handguns. Nutha herself unholstered her favorite revolver, and began to scout the darkness.

Horuk tapped her on the shoulder, "Should we spread out?"

She thought for a second, then shouted again, "Group up! Teams of two, cover your backs." Hesitating, she pulled her walkie-talkie back up, "Guard teams, report in." She let the button go.

"…"

She cursed again, then looked at Horuk, "You're with me." He nodded.

The pair began to stalk through the alleyways made by the cargo containers. For several minutes, there was silence, but it didn't help ease Nutha's nerves. Turning a corner, she stiffened as she saw the two members of team three, slumped against a container. She strode over to them and quickly checked their pulses, and found them to be alive. "Strange." She muttered, before turning back to look at Horuk-

Who wasn't there.

"Horuk. Horuk?" She whispered as loudly as she dared. Her eyes scanned the tops of the containers, and caught the sight of the drug runner's shoe being pulled out of sight.

In later years, Nutha would never repeat what happened next, because of how much shame she felt.

She ran.

She sprinted as hard as she could, back towards the truck, jumping over unconscious goons all along the way.

In the distance, she heard someone firing a gun, shouting, "Where are you! WHERE?" A few seconds later, he fell silent.

Nutha broke into the clearing and charged for the truck, hoping she could make it.

She did.

Nutha slid into the already open cab, and snatched the keys from where they were tucked above the sun visor. She brought the key to the ignition, only for a sword as black as night to slice through the roof. She pulled her gun and fired several shots upwards, but while the sword was withdrawn, a pair of black gloves forced their way through the roof, and pulled the steel apart as if it was cardboard. One of the gloves grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up.

She fired off the rest of her bullets into her attacker's chest, but they just bounced off of the armor.

Nutha couldn't help but gulp (another thing she'd edit out on future retellings), as the… knight regarded her, then a voice, laced with humor, emitted from it, "Going somewhere, Nutha?"

"Fuck you." She swung her fist at his head, but only succeeded in hurting her hand.

He laughed, "As fun as this is, cops are on the way. I have to wrap this up quickly, I have a date tonight, after all." As he said this, she began to hear sirens in the distance.

The knight head-butted her, and she fell unconscious.

The sound of sirens grew louder, and the man in black armor leapt away into the night.

* * *

Yue Aleut, Mayor of Northern City, stood at her office window, nursing a glass of ice wine, clad in only a bathrobe. At twenty-seven, she was the youngest person to have ever been elected mayor, as well as the first woman. She remembered how amazed the rest of the world was when the jewel city of the Northern Water Tribe, a country famous for it's backwards views on women, elected a woman into power.

She felt a presence behind her, and shifted her eyes to look at the reflection in the glass. She saw the dark figure striding towards her. "Well?"

The black metal seemed to dissolve, dissipating like a cloud of smoke, until a lean tribesman was left, wearing a blue t-shirt and a huge grin. His hair was shaved at the sides, the remainder, brought up into a wolf tail. He stopped at the table of drinks she had, and poured himself a glass of fire whisky. "It went good-"

"Well."

"Fine. It went _well_." He said, emphasizing her correction, "Busted up their labs, and caught two or their higher-ranking members. Sure, they might get off somehow, but they'll be in the public eye, and so will the docks, as well as the drug trade. Pressure will be on the police department, and you can start your changes."

"Perfect." Yue smiled, raising her glass, which Sokka clinked his glass against, before leaning against the window.

It was a few seconds of silence, before he broke it, "That suit is… something else. I feel so strong and fast, almost inhuman."

"That's good," she smirked, "I wouldn't have asked this of you if you didn't have the sword."

"I- hey, wait! Are you saying I'm not dangerous without the sword? It picked me, right? Doesn't that mean I have some natural skill?"

"The sword only has to find someone worthy of wielding it, nothing is said about physical ability."

He pouted, turning away from her and crossing his arms, "I've never been more insulted!"

"What about the time that your sister called you a 'huge dweeb' in front of your whole high-school?"

"…okay, that might've been worse."

"Well, to be fair, you _were_ attempting to ride a unicycle while playing the didgeridoo. If I had been there, I would've probably called you a dweeb too."

"I don't know why I like you."

Her arms wrapped around his wait and her chest pressed against his back. He chuckled, "Oh yeah, _those_ are why."

"Tch, jerk." She said, before spinning him around and kissing him.

Sokka leaned into the kiss, enjoying it for several long, luxurious seconds, before pulling away, "Hahn?"

She twitched a bit at the mention of her husband, "Out, somewhere in the red-light district, Doing who-knows-what with Tui-knows-who."

"Perfect." His lips crashed into hers, and his hands undid the sash holding her robe closed. "I'd hate to be interrupted."

* * *

On a far off building, a figure clad in a black catsuit crouched, watching the scene through a pair of powerful binoculars.

A hand strayed downwards, fingering the handle of the knife strapped to her thigh.

She put down the binoculars and stood up, walking away.

Not tonight.

But soon.

* * *

A/N: WOW. I had 2 different drafts for this chapter, before just pulling this out of nowhere and writing it. The first was with Yue as an ambassador to the Fire Nation, a group of bad guys (who? I dunno. that was one of the problems with this version) invade and try to kill Yue. Sokka picks up the sword after using his ammo up and becomes Black Wolf, but I couldn't pace the chapter right. The second was one where Sokka returns to the South, meets Katara, we get more exposition on their characters, before we get an action scene with Sokka beating up people doing an arms deal. Then _that_ one stalled because I couldn't figure out how to write the interaction between the Painted Lady and the Black Wolf. Then this came to mind. Largely mook POV of the Black Wolf causing trouble, heavily inspired by 'Batman Begins'.

Yes, I know I introduced the Black Blade back in chapter one. That will be explained later, how the sword ended up with the Northern Water tribe. And we will get a lot of cool swordplay later, he was only fighting goons here, he doesn't need excessive force.

Cactus Juice: a _lot_ of people like to play it as an alcohol… but it _isn't_. It's a freaking narcotic, a hallucinogenic to be specific. Sokka got looped out of his mind with hallucinations and shit, alcohol makes someone kinda loopy, but not to that degree. That shit is a drug, and would definitely become a big deal once discovered by the general public. So here, we have cactus juice dealers. Shin, by the way, is the Shin from Korra. And Blue Tsunami is an adaptation of Red Tsunami, a name I never got, because water is _blue_ … unless they mean to evoke blood? I dunno.

So… I don't know if you understand, I don't want to think you guys are idiots, but just to be sure, Yue is the one who gave Sokka the sword so he could be her personal crime-fighter. Northern City is pretty much Gotham. I'll have exposition on their past another time, but all you need to know now is that, and that they're having an affair behind Hahn's back. Hahn will have a greater role later.

The land the Water Tribes are in a more alpine sort of environment, with trees and shit. They are on solid ground and have buildings that aren't made of ice. Better for a world without waterbenders. The Tribes themselves have a heavy population in their major cities- Northern and Southern (I _really_ worked my brain on that, lemme tell you), with small farming villages and a few small cities spread around. Because of this heavy population, the mayors of those two wield a _lot_ of power. Think of New York state, and how much heft the NYC mayor has.

The past of the tribes is (roughly) the same as in canon: there was just one at first (North) the Southern was made when the North got all uppity about those crazy women having rights and stuff, so the dissidents moved south. Then a bunch of weirdoes split off, went north, and settled in a swamp. We'll talk about those guys in another chapter. North and South (oh… I'll rant about _that_ in a second) get along pretty good, shared cultural history and all that means that they keep pretty close ties.

So… North and South, the comic set in the Southern Water Tribe, and is about the growing tensions between the two tribes. These tensions largely caused by cultural differences highlighted by changes made to the South by Northern influence, pointing towards a civil war situation… This is just a rehash of the Korra season 2 premise. To make it "better" the North is sticking its nose into the South's business because they want OIL.

Ugh.

I honestly think that they shouldn't have made these comics. Too much bullshit happens in them. I could rant about the more Zuko-centered ones for _hours_. They seem determined to deal Zuko a shit deck each time. But I digress.

As for the figure… well, given the weapon mentioned an that it's a she… well… golly, I _wonder_.

…this isn't my favorite chapter, but I wanted a bit of a breather before the action shit coming soon. The next chapter or two will be similar.

NEXT TIME: A return to the Ogata household, a weekend, and a new member.


	19. Fire Lord and Kyoshi-4: Family

Family

Zuko sat on his knees, staring at the two small portraits on his bookshelf. A beautiful woman in her late thirties, and a handsome man in his twenties gazed out from either picture. Small sticks of incense burned in-between the frames.

As he stared, memories flooded his mind.

His mother taking him to a park, and talking to him as they feed the little turtleducks that paddled around the ponds.

His cousin helping him build sand castles on Ember Island's beaches, playing with him and being the older brother he never had.

Zuko pushed aside thoughts of their deaths and funerals. He knew they wouldn't have wanted him to dwell on things like that. He sighed, and stood up, gently touching both portraits, "I miss you guys."

He walked out of his room, but he spared a glance at the smiling faces of Ursa and Lu Ten before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Lee stored away the half-empty bag of feed, brushing his hands as he did so. Finally, his morning chores were done. He stared walking back to the house, thinking about what hijinks he could get up to, when a noise reached his ears. He turned, and saw that, coming down the long road back to town, was a large, black truck.

He gulped, all thought of play leaving his mind. He sprinted the rest of the way to the house, screaming for his parents.

* * *

"Here's you tea!" Suki said, ignoring the disappointed looks the table of college girls were giving her.

"Thanks," one muttered half-heartedly.

Suki decided to have pity on them, "He'll be in the store in a few minutes. I'll make sure he clears your table and takes the check."

They all blushed and smiled, and Suki walked away smirking. Nothing set a good mood for the day like messing with Zuko.

It was a late weekend morning, nearly ten o'clock. Things had long quieted down from the morning rush and, aside from the group of girls, the only occupants were a twenty-something guy typing furiously on his computer, and an elderly woman, sipping her tea while reading a newspaper.

She ambled over to the service window, and leaned against it, "Slow day, huh, Iroh?"

The older man adjusted a pot of tea, "Yes, but I always appreciate these sort of days," he said, turning a huge grin to her, "but please stop trying to torment my nephew."

"But it's funny!"

"Well… yes. But that's not the point, is it?" He asked, chuckling.

"What did you do, Suki?"

Suki swung around, Zuko was looming over her, black apron already tied on, eyebrow arched. She poked him in the chest, "Don't do that! You scared me."

"Your fault for letting your guard down."

She huffed, before pointing to the table of girls, "That's your table now, by the way."

He narrowed his eyes at her, before stalking away towards the table.

She stifled her laughter, while Iroh's shoulders shook with mirth, as they watched the girls begin to flirt mercilessly with Zuko as he tried- in vain- to collect their already drained cups and teapot.

Five minutes- and a number-covered napkin forcibly stuffed in his back pants pocket later- Zuko stalked over, tea tray in hand, and shoved it at Suki, "Clean this." She pouted, and took the tray, moving to the sink. Behind her, Zuko turned to his Uncle, "And stop encouraging her!"

Iroh choked down his laughter, before putting a placating hand on his nephew's shoulder, "I am sorry, my nephew, but you _do_ need to speak with women more regularly. And not just Suki."

"I do that already!" He snapped, then cursed silently and folded his arms, suddenly looking very flustered.

His sudden clamming up caused Suki to turn to Zuko, raising an eyebrow at his flushed face and nervous expression. "Zuko?" His cheeks began to turn red as he shifted his body so he was no longer facing her. She grinned, "Are you seeing someone?"

"N-no!"

"Nephew…?" Iroh prodded.

"I- I mean-" a buzzing came from Zuko's pocket and frantically fished out his Vanguard communicator. He scanned the screen before looking at his uncle questioningly.

The older man nodded, "Go, I'll call in Jin to cover. It's not a busy day anyway."

Zuko turned and marched down the hallway towards the mirror, Suki on his heels. "Have fun! And be safe!" Iroh called after them.

"So what's the deal?" Suki asked as Zuko opened the concealed door to the small elevator. They crammed themselves inside and shut the door.

"It's a job from the National Intelligence Bureau. They have some targets for us."

"Normal people or enhanced?" The doors opened and the pair stepped out of the elevator and marched towards the main room.

"Not sure yet. I'm sending the files to the _Flare_. We'll read them while we're on our way." Zuko replied as he opened the case containing his suit.

Suki pressed a section of the wall next to the case, revealing the cubby where her suit was stored, "Where're we going?"

"Plains Village, southern Earthen continent."

* * *

Gansu and Sela emerged from the house as the pickup truck pulled up in-front of them. Several mercenaries, dressed in gray armor, dismounted from the bed, and flanked the man who came out from the passenger's seat. Mongke stood tall and arrogant, dressed in a leather coat and jeans, a dangerous smile on his face.

"Ahh, the Shan family," He drawled, slowly walking towards the couple, "I have to speak with you about some _very_ important shit."

"What do you want, Mongke?" Gansu asked, stonily.

"I don't think I like your tone, Gansu. In fact, that, and your behavior lately are _exactly_ why I'm here." He pointed at the farmer's chest, "You haven't been providing. I set a quota, and you're falling short. It isn't like it's hard to come by four pigs a week around here, I see swine _everywhere_."

"You have no right-" Sela said, but Mongke spun towards her, fist raised. She flinched backwards.

"Shut that shit _down_. I don't know what it is that made you forget, but let me remind you that this is _my_ village, that is _my_ house, those are _my_ pigs, and _you_ work for _me_. That is how this shit works. You work for me, and I keep you, and your little dust-covered village safe from the shitstorm that the Empire has turned into." He stared at her for a few more seconds, before backing off, and grinning at both Sela and Gansu, "So where's my damn pigs?"

* * *

"Our targets are a small group of ex-National military-turned part-time mercenaries who call themselves the 'Rough Rhinos', after the famous National calvary unit. They were part of a top-secret super-soldier program that took place about five years ago, which enhanced their strength, speed, etcetera, and they subsequently specialized in a variety of weapons and combat techniques." Zuko lectured, summarizing the report the Bureau had sent him. Suki listened as she stared at the faces of their targets, memorizing them. "They were a black ops force, and were highly effective. However, something was apparently wrong with the serum that was used to enhance them, as they all began to show similar symptoms of hyper-aggression and a lack of both empathy and sympathy. Three years ago, they went rogue, hid somewhere in the Earthen continent, and began doing mercenary work, but largely kept their heads down. It seems like the chaos on the continent has made them bold, as they're occupying a whole village, with a small contingent of ex-Imperial soliders."

He pointed at one of the portraits, "The leader is Colonel Mongke, he's clever-"

"Not clever enough to realize how stupid that haircut is."

"-and generally unarmed, but he's still dangerous. He's a world-class martial artist, and with the serum, became a powerhouse. Reportedly, he once punched through a tank's armor to get the driver inside."

"Are they all this strong?"

"Only he is, from what the reports say. There's no explanation even alluded to, but my guess is that he either got a higher dose or it just reacted different with him because of one random gene or something."

"So it _was_ a serum?"

"Yes, that much is clear, it was part of something called… Project Blue Flame, but there's nothing else talked about except that it was developing serums to make super-soldiers."

"Do you think it's still around?"

"Either it was dissolved because it drove the Rhinos crazy, or it's still around, trying to make something that _won't_ drive people insane, but now you've gotten me really off track, so _shut up and let me brief you because you didn't want to read the whole report_."

She waved, "Sure."

" _Thank you_. Anyway, Ogodei is Mongke's right hand, and wields a kusarigama- a scythe-chain combination weapon. The blade is a carbon material, and the chain is a titanium alloy. He uses the chain to trip-up or entangle opponents, then he closes the distance to finish them off with the scythe. Then there's Vachir, a sharp-shooter that uses- of all things- a revolver."

"A _revolver_?"

"He can apparently hit a target the size of a moon-peach from nearly a quarter of a mile away."

"You're shitting me."

"No. Additionally, he uses high-caliber, armor-piercing rounds. Finally, there's Yeh-Lu. His picture is unreliable however, apparently he is constantly wearing a mechanical battle-suit, that covers his face entirely. Instead, he sees through a series of micro-cameras situated on the suit's faceplate. He wears the armor because he is the group's explosives expert, and requires the extra protection. He carries a variety of hand grenades, from flash and smoke to incendiary and concussive, and has a grenade launcher as well."

"Quite a team they've got."

"Yes."

"Piece of cake."

* * *

The five, freshly-slaughtered pigs were loaded onto the back of the truck, and Mongke nodded, smirking. He turned to the couple, "See? Was that so hard? This is what cooperation looks like."

They just stared back at him.

Suddenly, his eyes began flicking around, and a new smile appeared on his face, "Say… where's your boy?"

Both parents stiffened.

"Come on, you know I have a soft spot for the kid. I returned him to you in one piece after he tried to steal my fruit, remember?"

They remained quiet, tense.

The smile slowly began to melt away from his face, "Where's the-" He paused, eyes turned upwards.

He looked back at the farmers, "Up in his room, eh? Don't trust me around him, huh? I dunno why, I wish I had a son like yours. He has more damn backbone than this whole village put together, he would make an _excellent_ lieutenant when he grows up." His face lit up, "Now _that_ is an idea." He pointed at the window that had been previously occupied by Lee's face, "Bring me your son."

Gansu made a choking noise, and Sela asked, breathlessly, "What?"

"You heard what I said. Bring. Me. Your. Son. As I said, everything in this village is mine, including the people. You've disrespected me by both not contributing, _and_ talking back. Five pigs is a start, and it's a _good_ start, but I need to see that you're on board."

"You're not taking our son." Gansu growled.

"And you're not listening." Mongke responded, shifting closer to them, leveling a glare. "Get. Him. Down here!"

"No."

"Hm," Mongke nodded, "Fine." His hand lashed out, and Gansu was suddenly on the ground, Mongke's boot on his throat.

Sela screamed and tried to lunge at the colonel, only to get restrained by Mongke's mercenaries.

"Now!" The colonel said, "That was a test, and _you_ failed. I am _not_ a bad guy, I would've let you keep your son, after you brought him down to show me that you understand the position you're in." He shrugged, "Seems like I'll have to take him now anyway, after all, it'd be cruel to leave him all on his own." He brought up his spare foot and stomped on Gansu's skull, killing the man instantly as his head was crushed.

Mongke turned to Sela, who was sobbing, and rolled his eyes, "Oh, shut up." He shot out a fist, catching her in the chest, causing her to collapse, a bloody crater over her heart.

He turned to his men, and pointed at the bodies, "Clean this shit up, and someone go get me the kid. Oh! Private, get me a towel for this mess." He waved his bloody hand around in the air.

A towel was handed to him within a minute, and he cleaned his hand off as he watched a few of his men dig shallow graves for the dead couple.

As the dirt was packed down over them, a member of his crew came out of the house, and walked over to him, "Sir, the kid is gone. There's evidence that he may have taken some things from his room, but he is missing."

Mongke clenched his jaw, "Fine. Either he's run off into the fucking desert or he'll hide somewhere in town. I'll bet on the latter, he's too much of a troublemaker to turn tail and run. We'll find him." He raised a hand into the air and waved it in a circle, "Pack it up! Let's go home." He looked at the pigs, and made a mental note to send some people to collect them later.

The men got onto the truck, and drove away, back towards town.

The only noises were that of the wind, the pigs, and the soft sobbing of a boy hiding on top of a nearby cliff.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over him, and his tear-filled eyes snapped open to see a large, strange airplane fly over, barely making a noise. As he watched, thankful for something to distract him from what just happened, the plane reared back, and landed gently, past the sunflower fields, at the base of distant cliffs.

He rubbed his eyes to clear them of tears, and pressed his stomach against the warm rock, watching.

* * *

Zuko finished adjusting his costume and looked over to Suki, who was doing one last check of her pistols, "Everything good?"

"Seems in order."

He nodded, "See that farmhouse near the cliff? There were pigs there, so there should be people. I want to ask for intel about Mongke's forces."

"It's a gang of four superhumans and a couple dozen grunts."

"Yes, and it's also a town of civilians, and I'd rather not accidentally incinerate half the population."

"Fine, fine, I get it," She waved him off, "Let's go."

He opened the door and jumped down, Suki close behind him.

Their walk through the sunflower field went without incident until they were about three-fourths of the way there. Zuko stopped in his tracks, and began swiveling around, peering at the sunflowers.

"What's wrong?" Suki muttered, hands creeping towards her pistols.

"I… don't know. I feel like we're being watched but…" he looked around for a few more seconds, then shook his head. "It's probably nothing. But keep on your guard, just to be safe."

They finished their walk to the house, passing the pig pen and moving to the porch.

As they stepped up, they immediately realized something was wrong.

"That's a lot of blood," Suki muttered, looking at the two bloodstains on the worn porch wood.

Zuko slipped into investigator mode, crouching and examining both bloodstains in turn. He pointed at one, "This is different. There's bits of tissue in here… maybe brain matter? And bone fragments."

"Ugh, that's why it's all lumpy, huh?"

"Very appealing, Suki," Zuko responded, standing up and gazing around. He walked to the dirt road, and couched again, examining the ground, ' _Fresh tire tracks… some sort of large, four-wheeler. Military-issued boots… one pair is different through.'_ He stood up, "I think-"

"Uh, Sparks?"

He turned, and saw Suki looking at something on the ground, slightly around the corner of the house. He walked over, and cursed softly. Two mounds of dirt sat side-by side. No headstones, no markings. Just two shallow graves.

After a few seconds of silence, Zuko said, "I found evidence of some sort of military group having been here recently. I think this is Mongke-" He paused, and looked up the cliff the farmhouse sat in the shade of.

A head covered in brown hair ducked out of view.

"II'll be right back."

Zuko crouched and jumped, blasting fire from his feet to give himself a boost. He landed on the cliff with a roll, and stood in a ready pose, only to see a kid spawned on the ground, staring at Zuko with abject fear in his eyes.

He couldn't have been more than twelve years old, gangly and skinny, with wild hair and patched, worn clothes. He had a small pack sitting next to him, and his eyes were rimmed with red.

Zuko relaxed his stance, and held out a hand to the kid, whose facial expression was morphing from scared to awed. "Are you okay?" Zuko asked.

"Uh, erm, uh…" He sat there, stammering, and Zuko retracted the hand, opting to sit next to the kid, already piecing together what had happened.

"What's your name?"

"L-Lee."

"Lee. Lee, that… that's your home, isn't it?"

His eyes somehow widened even more, and he nodded.

"The bodies buried in the yard… those are you parents?"

Tears sprung to Lee's eyes, and he hastily wiped them away, before shakily saying, "Yeah."

"Was is Mongke?"

The kid looked at him, startled before sniffling a bit and nodding again, obviously trying to bottle up his emotions.

Zuko pinched his nose. He was not the one for this, his Uncle was far better with people than he was. But, the choice was either him or Suki, and Suki was _really_ bad at this. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Lee, hey, Lee. Look at me." As he spoke, he reached to his face with his free hand and pulled off his mask, and toned down his powers so his eyes weren't glowing gold.

Lee looked at him, and gasped slightly at seeing the man unmasked, but Zuko spoke before Lee could comment, "Lee. I… I know what it's like to lose people you love. I lost my mother when I was only a little younger than you. It's… awful." He felt his voice getting raw as he remembered his mother's slow, drawn-out death. "I know it's tempting to try and bottle up those feelings. But that would just cause more problems… more pain. And I know that you don't know me but…" he hesitated, before picking the words that Iroh had told him after Ursa had died, the words he had been so, so grateful to hear, "I am here for you, you're safe."

The kid burst into tears, and threw his arms around Zuko's neck, latching onto him with all of his strength, and began to cry into the superhuman's shoulder.

Zuko stood there, awkwardly for a second, before wrapping his arms around the kid, gently, unsure.

After what felt like a half hour, the crying faded away, replaced with light snores. Zuko looked down to see Lee seeping against his armored chest. He sighed, and shifted the boy's weight so he could carry him, before picking up his pack, and jumping off the side of the cliff. Careful bursts of flame from his feet slowed his descent, so he landed gently, without disturbing the sleeping boy.

Suki looked at him from where she was sitting on the porch. She took in the sight of the kid latched onto him with slight amusement, "You, uh, got something stuck to you."

He snorted a bit, but smiled, "Yeah," his smiled faded, "He saw his parents get murdered."

"What?"

"Well, he didn't say as much, but I could tell. They're the bodies buried there."

"Ah, shit," Suki said, unsure as to how she should respond.

"Can you open the door?"

"Why?"

"I'd bring him back to the _Flare_ , but it's better for him to wake up in a familiar environment."

"Makes sense," she said, opening the door for him.

"Keep a look out, will you?"

"No problem."

* * *

When Lee woke up, the sun was an orange color in the sky, and he thought he had had an awful dream.

Then he saw Fire Lord leaning against his bedroom wall, gazing out the window.

While he had grown up in the Empire, a distrust of Nationals had never been instilled in him, or much of the village for that matter. Plains Village had been around for centuries, been ruled by various nations and forms of the Earth Kingdom. They never cared about who was in charge, they just did their work and paid their taxes.

So when he had seen Fire Lord for the first time on the television, he had instantly become a massive fan. He was a _superhero_ , like something from the comic books Lee loved. Fire Lord had saved tons of people, beat up the bad guys, and just did everything Lee had admired about his comic book heroes. And now he was _standing in his room_ , after showing Lee his _face_.

The man turned at Lee's shifting, his mask back on, "Are you okay? Wait- stupid question. Uh, how are you?"

"Uh- um. B-better. I guess."

"Good. You won't feel 'okay' for a while, but you will… someday…" he trailed off, before shaking his head, and taking a deep breath, "Lee, I know it must be difficult, but I need you to answer a few questions. Can you do that?"

"Yeah."

He smiled, "Good." An odd expression came over his face, "Oh, uh first… do you know who I am?"

Lee brightened at the opening, "Yeah I do! You're the Fire Lord! The coolest, best hero ever! Can you really fly faster than-"

"Kid, kid, kid," Fire Lord cut him off, "I'm sorry, but I'll answer questions later. I just wanted to make sure. I didn't introduce myself, after all. Anyway…" He ran a hand through his long black hair, "can you tell me why Mongke killed your parents?"

Lee's mood darkened, he curled his legs up to his body and wrapped his arms around his knees, "He's just like that with everyone who makes him angry. If you don't do what he says, he kills you. Or just hurts you, sometimes."

"It's like this throughout the whole town?"

"Yeah. He showed up about a month ago, saying he was going to save us from all the wars going on in the Empire. We didn't need his help though, we were fine, nobody cared about us! We wee just a little farming town, nothing important-"

"Lee," the man cut him off again, before he could go on a tear, "What happened after Mongke arrived?"

"Um, him and his soldiers just took over, and everything became about them. They got the best bread, the best vegetables, fruits… pigs. People tried to resist at first but he'd just kill them. He's strong… he can crush a person's head between his hands…" Lee trailed off.

Fire Lord took a few seconds before asking another question, "Do you know anything about where Mongke and his men are stationed? Where they hang out, where they patrol…?"

"Yeah," Lee said, nodding, "Yeah, I do. I used to sneak into town a lot and spy on him and his soldiers. But then, a week ago I got caught by Yeh-Lu, and Mongke brought me back here, and tried to turn it into something my parent's would owe him for." He was starting to feel tired again, worn.

"Lee, I need you to tell me everything you can about the soldiers and where they are stationed."

He smiled, excited about the idea of helping his hero, "Okay!"

"One more thing. Do you, uh, have any family living nearby? Or close friends? When I leave, I can't just leave you here."

Lee looked down at his bed, and started picking at the sheet, "No, not really. We live far from town. We're friendly with some people but we just kind of stuck to ourselves."

"No friends from school?"

"No school." He looked up to see a confused look on the superhero's face, "There's no school in town. I know how to read, write, and do some math, but I pretty much know only farming stuff."

The man seemed to think for a few minutes, before shaking his head, "I'll figure something out. And, we don't really have the time right now, but I promise that when Mongke is gone, we'll give your parents a proper burial, okay?" He gaze a soft smile.

Lee smiled, "Okay."

"Alright. Now let's get down to business."

* * *

"And you're absolutely sure about this?" Fire Lord asked.

"Yeah! Well, I mean, that was a week ago, so they _could_ have changed up stuff, but I don't think so. Things have been like that since they got here." Lee replied.

Fire Lord paused for a few seconds, seeming to think about something, before smiling a bit, and nodding, "Thanks, Lee. You've been a big help. I think this is enough that I'll be able to take out Mongke with as few of the villagers getting hurt as possible."

"No problem!" Lee replied cheerily. He had brightened up over the last hour, enjoying that he was being of help to a superhero. Speaking of… "So uh… can I ask my questions now?"

Zuko hesitated, then stood up from the floor, "Sure, talk to me as we walk."

"Where're we going?"

"Somewhere safe for you to hide out until I take down Mongke."

They left the room and headed downstairs, but before Lee could say anything, they exited the house, and he caught sight of the redheaded woman lounging on his porch. Even though- judging from the body armor, and tons of weapons- she seemed super dangerous, she was also _very_ pretty. His cheeks began to burn up, and they _flared_ when she looked at him and gave a grin, "Hey."

"I- uh, erm, um…"

Fire Lord cleared his throat and said, "Oh, yeah, Lee this is my partner, Kyoshi-4."

Lee blinked rapidly, then looked at his feet, and muttered, "Hi."

"Kyoshi, I'm taking Lee back to the _Flare_ so he'll be safe when we go after Mongke and his friends."

"Got it. I'll chill here. You have a plan?"

"Yes. I'll tell it to you on our way to the town."

With that, Fire Lord stepped off the porch and walked towards the field.

Lee made a few noises in an attempt to say goodbye to the redhead, before trotting after him.

"So…" Lee said after he managed to get himself back under control, "Is she…"

"My girlfriend? No. No interest either. She's great, and I love her, don't get me wrong, but she's like a sister I never had. Besides, it's hard to be romantic with someone after you helped keep their intestines inside them," The Fire Lord faltered then said, "Erm, sorry. I shouldn't have… anyway. Didn't you say you had questions?"

Lee hesitated for a few seconds, trying to push away the imagery of the pretty woman with her guts hanging out, before managing to say, "How'd you get your powers?"

"I inherited them."

"Like, someone _gave_ them to you? Like, there was a Fire Lord before you?"

"Uh, no, kid. My powers are genetic, passed from parent to kid. Not every generation has a lot of power, though, and I'm just lucky to be strong enough to help people."

"Ohhhh."

This went on for several minutes as they marched through the sunflowers, Lee asking several questions ("Is it true you first wore medieval armor before getting your suit?" "Can you eat fire?" "Why'd you call yourself 'Fire Lord'?") and the Fire Lord answering them with decent patience ("Yes, it was a suit my family had in storage." "Yes, but it's easier to just absorb it." "Because the title hasn't been used for three hundred years but still has a lot of authority.") until they got to the jet.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Lee crowed as he clambered into the airplane. "What's it called?"

"The _Flare_. It's a prototype, but for now, it's one of a kind." He grasped Lee's shoulder to stop him from running around, and crouched to be on eye-level, "Lee. I need you stop stay here. This is the safest place for you until we take out Mongke."

Lee started to feel a pit on panic, realizing he didn't want to be alone. He tried to quash the feeling, but it seemed like Fire Lord caught on, "I'll be back, I swear. I- wait." The man reached to the back of his belt and unhooked something, handing it to Lee.

It was a sheathed knife. Reverently, he unsheathed it, and noticed there was something written on the blade, "'Never give up without a fight'." He looked at Fire Lord, questioningly.

"It was a gift from my uncle, he pretty much raised me. I keep it because it reminds me of two things. One is what is written on it. And the other, is that I am never alone. That's what I want you to remember while I'm gone. I will not leave you, Lee, okay? You're not going to be alone."

Lee stared at his hero with awe, and nodded, at a loss for words.

Fire Lord smiled, and squeezed his shoulder, before standing up and heading to the door, "I'll be back. I promise." He paused at the door, "Oh, and uh, don't touch anything," he stepped out the door and hopped down the stairs. After a few seconds, the stairs retracted and the door swung closed.

Lee sat on a seat, and pulled out the knife, staring at the inscription.

His eyes flicked to the door.

* * *

Suki scaled the water tower at the center of town with ease, and slung her rifle off of her back, quickly attaching a silencer, and took up a sniping position.

She scanned the village, doing a check of the guards, before touching her ear piece, "That kid has a good memory, Sparks. He's right. Two-man patrols on each of the streets, and eight two-man patrols doing laps around the perimeter of the village. No sign of Mongke or his buddies yet, but I have a visual on their hideout. Which, may I add, looks like the shittiest dive bar ever."

 _"Well, make a note to write a review later, we're not here for bar-hopping. Just keep on your guard. Things are about to get noisy."_

There was a bright light, and a sound similar to a jet engine as Zuko took off from a far-off field and flew high into the air, towards the town.

Suki heard the shouts of alarm as the mercenaries spotted him and fired, attempting to bring him down. Soon enough, all of the guards were watching and attempting to shoot down Zuko. He zoomed past the town borders and landed at the base of the tower. She did a check, and sure enough, not only were all of the guards rushing in to investigate, but more mercenaries were pouring out from the houses they had taken over.

No sign of movement from Mongke's place, however.

She grinned, looked down at Zuko, and nodded. He glanced at her, before turning his attention to their company.

Zuko watched as what seemed to be the entire occupying force- some sixty men, were assembled in the square, the first few rows with their guns trained on him. They were muttering nervously, clearly having recognized him as the Fire Lord, and unsure how to continue.

"I don't want to kill all of you," Zuko said loudly, "You're not Black Flame, you're not terrorists. You're ex-military, desperate, and not lovers of carnage and pain like they are." He raised a hand, a flame blossoming in it, "I just want Mongke and his three friends. The rest of you can go. Don't try me."

Someone scoffed and took a shot, nailing Zuko between his eyes. Several more people, all in the first few rows, began shooting, and Zuko cursed, before unsheathing his dao and slashing in wide arcs, sending waves of fire out, severely burning, but not killing, several mercenaries.

He blasted into the air, and stopped about twenty feet off the ground, sheathing his swords and shouting, "LEAVE! This isn't a fight you're going to win. I only want Mongke."

There was a beat, before most of the soldiers fled. Zuko watched as they loaded into trucks scattered through the town, and peeled off into the night.

Ten men were left, and Zuko descended, landing in front of them, "You're sure you want to do this?"

They cocked their guns in response.

"Fine."

He shifted back, fire gathering on his swords, when a shout pierced the air, "Hold your fire!"

Zuko and the remaining soldiers turned to see four men marching towards them.

Mongke, Ogodei, Vachir, and Yeh-Lu. All dressed in casual clothes save the heavily armored Yeh-Lu. Mongke wore a leather jacket and denim jeans, Ogodei had on a sleeveless shirt, cargo shorts, and held his kusarigama held at his side, while Vachir wore a large coat over a plain t-shirt and jeans, a military cap perched on his head, and his hand resting on the grip of his revolver. Yeh-Lu stood impassively, unreadable in his black armor.

The colonel grinned at his ten, loyal-to-the-end followers, "At ease, soldiers. Take a hike. I'll deal with this prick."

The men nodded, before marching off to a truck to pile into.

"Now there go some fine young men," Mongke said, turning to Zuko, "Real examples of loyalty right there. Certainly shows how few people in the world you can rely on, considering they're the only ones who stuck around."

Zuko folded his arms, "You know how this is going to go, Mongke. You can just give up."

"Please. Us four versus you? Don't make me-"

"Sniper!" Vachir called out, and pulled out his revolver, aiming at the top of the tower. Zuko shot forwards and grabbed his outstretched hand, and heaved backwards, turning, and threw Vachir into a support beam of the water tower.

He quickly recovered, but before Zuko could do anything more, a chain wrapped around his arm, and- caught off-guard- he was pulled backwards and off of his feet, and was dragged several feet away.

Mongke's voice rang out, "Vachir, deal with the sniper! We'll take care of the hothead."

A foot descended towards Zuko's face, and he sprung up, shook his arm free of the chain, and spun around to face his enemies.

There was a few seconds of stillness, before Yeh-Lu suddenly lobbed something at Zuko. He batted it away, and turned to catch Mongke's thrown fist. He delivered several body shots to the colonel, but was interrupted by something wrapping around his leg and pulling him to his knees. Mongke freed himself and punched Zuko in the face.

* * *

Vachir scaled the tower's ladder, murder in his heart as took three rungs at a time. He swung onto the small platform that went around the water tower, and slowly began stalking around, gun drawn.

He heard a click and swung around, aiming his gun at a dark shape sitting on top of the water tank, and fired off a shot at the person's head-

Only for a glowing blue disc of energy to halt the bullet in its tracks.

A pistol came around from the side of the shield and took several shots at him, but he rolled away, around the tank and out of sight.

He checked his gun.

Five shots left.

He cursed that he had forgotten more bullets.

The other person on the tower dropped in front of him, and, as he blocked a punch, he quickly registered that this was- in fact Kyoshi-4. He had thought so, but he had learned to never make assumptions, especially when dealing with 'superheroes'.

They traded blows, before he drew his gun and attempted to shoot her in the face, but she shoved his arm up, sending the shot wild, and punched him in the gut.

Enhanced or not, that _hurt_.

He rolled out of her reach, and spun around, fanning his gun's hammer to squeeze off two more shots.

However, the girl's reflexes were too good, and the shield sprung to life again, blocking them.

Her pistol was drawn again, and she shot.

Vachir shouted in pain and dropped his gun, a bleeding gash in his hand from where the bullet grazed him.

Kyoshi-4 leveled her pistol at him, grinning cockily. He rolled his eyes, and sank to his knees hands behind his head.

She kept her gun trained on him, but approached, moving around him to grasp his wrists.

His hand flicked out and pressed the watch face on his right wrist, causing a blinding flash of light to go off. Kyoshi-4 cried out in surprise and pain, and Vachir took his chance, reaching down to snatch up his gun, pointing it at her, finger squeezing the trigger.

Her leg lashed out, catching him in the side of his head, and knocking him over the railing.

He collided hit the ground, and lay still, breathing shallowly.

Suki looked at him from atop the tower, still blinking rapidly. She suddenly grinned, "Thank goodness for blind luck!" She burst out laughing at her out joke. After a few minutes, she calmed down, "I'm _hilarious_."

* * *

Zuko caught Mongke's fist and shot up, delivering a nasty uppercut to the colonel, staggering him, and kicked him to knock him away further. He made to jump after him, but Yeh-Lu moved in his peripherals.

Zuko swung around and caught the grenade Yeh-Lu had lobbed, before whipping it back at the bombardier, the explosion catching the armored man off-guard.

He heard the rattling of a chain, and drew sword to knock it away before it could tangle around him again. He zeroed in on Ogodei. While Mongke was stronger, and Yeh-Lu had his explosives, after being wrapped up so many times, Zuko knew that the kusarigama and its user had to go. He rushed forward as Ogodei attempted to reel in his chain again.

He swung his drawn sword, but Ogodei reacted in time, blocking it with the blade of his scythe. He shoved Zuko away, and grabbed the chain again, but Zuko regained his footing and swung again, severing the chain not far from the handle.

Ogodei stared blankly at the ruined weapon for a second, before looking up at Zuko, "Bastard!" He shouted, and pulled back the scythe to strike, but was met with a boot to the chest, knocking him into a wall. His head lolled to the side, eyes closed as he fell into unconsciousness.

Zuko barely had a moment to breathe before several grenades landed around him. He managed to brace himself before they exploded, so instead of being knocked off of his feet, he was left with a ringing head, standing in a cloud of dust kicked up by the explosions.

He shook his head, trying to clear his head, but Yeh-Lu came flying through the smoke, fist crashing into the side of his head.

Zuko staggered, and pulled on his energy, allowing it to rush through him, speeding his healing and clearing his head. He poured energy into his fist, and unleashed a torrent of flame at Yeh-Lu. The masked man grunted, and brought his arms up to protect himself from the flames, and began walking against the blast.

He kept the flames going, waiting until the man had closed to within a few feet. He halted the fire, and surged forwards, charging energy into his fist, and gave a vicious right-hook to the bombardier's head.

The helmet flew off as Yeh-Lu fell backwards. He groaned, and began to sit up, for Zuko to pounce on him, and slamming his palm into Yeh-Lu's head, knocking him unconscious.

The dust was finally settling from the explosion, and Zuko took a few seconds to catch his breath.

He saw the shadow a fraction of a second too late, and a blade sliced across his back, ripping open his uniform and cutting into his flesh, two more slashes came in quick succession.

Zuko shouted in pain, and rolled away, and looked up to see Mongke standing above him, the scythe of Ogodei's broken kusarigama clenched in his hand, raised, the sharp blade dripping blood. "Made a mistake coming here, Fire Lord," the Colonel laughed.

Before Zuko could react, something darted in close, and Mongke yelled, the hilt of a knife protruding from his thigh.

Zuko saw Lee stumbling away from the enraged colonel, who turned towards the kid, "BOY! There you are!" He lurched towards him, but Zuko intercepted, launching himself at Mongke with fury in his eyes.

He tackled Mongke to the ground, the scythe falling from the man's grip, and punched him several times in the face, before pulling him up by the collar of his jacket, and crashing his head against Mongke's, who fell limp, unconscious.

Zuko got to his feet and rushed over to Lee, "Kid! You okay?" He put his hands on the boy's shoulders, looking him over.

"I'm- I'm fine!"

"Good," Zuko caught his breath, before nearly shouting, "What were you _doing_?! You could've been killed!"

"I-I-I didn't want you to die too!" Lee said, tears springing to his eyes.

Zuko faltered, feeling his anger drain from him. He hesitated, then said, "That was very, very dangerous Lee. I would've been fine, kid, but you could've been hurt." Lee began to look even sadder, "But, that was also very, very brave."

Lee looked up, eyes widening, "R-really?"

"Were you scared when you did it? Tell the truth."

"…yeah."

Zuko smiled, "That's bravery. Not acting _without_ fear, but acting _in spite_ of it. That's what makes a hero, Lee."

The boy's jaw dropped, and his mouth opened and closed rapidly, at a loss for words. After a few minutes, he jumped forwards, wrapping his arms around Zuko's torso, but sprung away, almost immediately, "Y-your back!" He looked at his hands, blood staining them both.

Zuko smiled at the kid's concern, and reached out a hand to ruffle Lee's hair, "It's fine. I'm tough and I heal quickly, and he didn't hit anything too important."

"Hey!" They turned to see Suki trotting up to them. Lee immediately turned scarlet and started fidgeting, while Zuko stood up to greet his partner. "Put you through the wringer, huh?" Suki said, taking in Zuko's appearance, "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"When'd the kid get here?"

Zuko looked at Lee questioningly, who blushed even deeper, stammering, "I-I left maybe a m-minute after you two left. Then, uh, I kinda watched from the alleys after all the guards left."

"Sneaky kid," Suki said, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Oh, right!" Zuko said, he strode over to Mongke and pulled his knife from the colonel's thigh. He gave a quick blast of fire to cauterize the wound, the unconscious man only stiffened in response. He wiped the blood off on his pants, and held it out to Lee. The boy held the sheath out in response, but Zuko shook his head, "Take the knife."

Reverently, Lee took the knife, and sheathed it, he looked at Zuko questioningly, but the Fire Lord pushed the knife against the boy's chest, "Keep it."

"Wow." Lee breathed.

Zuko looked at Lee for a few moments, rolling an idea over in his head, before turning to Suki, "Hey, could you take Lee back to the _Flare_ , and get him washed up?"

Lee's head snapped up, "Huh?"

"I want to talk to you about something, but first, I need to make sure that Mongke and his men are arrested, and that your village will be safe. So I want you to stay on the plane until I get back, alright?"

Lee hesitated for a bit, before nodding, "Okay."

Zuko looked at Suki, who nodded, and said, "Come on kid, let's let Sparks do all the boring stuff."

"Sparks!?"

Zuko groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

* * *

Zuko stumbled back to the plane, utterly exhausted. The Superhuman Containment Unit had shown up pretty quickly, so that had gone fairly smoothly. The issue had come while the Rough Rhinos were being loaded onto the transport helicopter, when the villagers had come out of their houses, and began swarming him, shouting and cheering that he had defeated their occupiers.

Not that he didn't appreciate their thanks, it was the fact that they were mobbing him, all trying to ask him something, or request a favor. The (thankfully alive) village elder had mentioned something about a feast, and several of the village girls had made… complementary remarks about his physique. After several dozen bows and handshakes, he finally made his excuses and got away from them.

He reached up to the door on the _Flare_ and pulled a handle, opening the door. He heaved himself up and in, and was met by Suki's snores and Lee's loud "Hi!".

"Hey, kid." He got to his feet and walked over to the seat next to Lee's and sat himself down, "How are you?"

"Fine. Uh, your back?"

"Healed. Thanks," He took a few seconds to breathe, before asking, "I know I asked you this before, but do you have any family to go to? Grandparents, aunts, uncles… cousins?"

Lee shook his head, "No… D-dad is- um, was an only child, and his mom and dad died when I was little. Mom- Mom was an orphan."

"And… you're sure there's no other family you're close to?"

"No…" Lee said, gloom filling his voice again.

Zuko took a deep breath before putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Lee. I know we only met earlier today, and that your parents are something that can _never_ be replaced. But if you want… I'm willing to take you in," he raised his hand, motioning Lee to keep quiet as he continued, "Don't say yes quickly. Think about this. I live in the Fire Nation capitol, its very far away, and _very_ different from an Earthen farming village. And you'll likely never see this place, your first home, for a very long time. I'm sure we could find a family willing to take you in, if you don't want to leave."

"Why? Why me?" Lee asked, stunned by the offer.

"Because you're a good kid. And… I know what it's like to lose a parent, and I am very lucky that I had someone to look after me, to make sure I didn't go down a dark path. I want to give you that same privilege."

Lee was quiet for a few minutes, thinking.

Zuko wasn't sure exactly _why_ he had offered to take in the kid. It just felt like the right thing to do. _'You never think things through!'_ His uncle's words, from when he was in his mid-teens and still angry and reckless, rang through his head. He turned over the concept of taking in Lee.

It wouldn't be that hard to forge the right papers, Teo had some connections that were the same ones who gave Suki her legal documents, birth certificate, social security, etcetera. Lee could be passed off as an Earth Empire refugee, fleeing the chaos of his home, whom Zuko had decided to adopt… it could work.

He watched Lee, and felt an uncomfortable feeling, something similar to dread fill his stomach at the thought of the kid turning him down.

 _'By Agni,'_ he thought, _'It's not a big deal if he says no. I mean, I've only known the kid for less than a day. All things considered, it'd make sense for him to say no. After all-'_

"Okay." Lee's voice cut off his train of thought.

"Huh?"

"I'll go with you. I… don't think I'd feel good living around here anymore anyways."

Zuko couldn't help but smile. He got off the bench and crouched in front of Lee, "Then if we're going to be living together," He pulled off his domino mask, and looked the kid in the eye, "My name's Zuko Ogata. Pleased to meet you." He ducked his head in a slight bow.

Lee grinned and ducked his head in return, "Pleased to meet you, Zuko. I'm Lee Shan."

"You know," Suki's groggy voice rang out, "You're gonna have to get a new apartment, Sparks, the teashop is gonna be crowded."

"I'll figure it out. Lee, this is Suki Ishikawa. My best friend."

Lee stammered out a greeting, which Suki responded to with a tired wave.

There was a quiet moment, before Zuko said, solemnly, "There's just one more thing to do. Suki, get up, I need your help."

* * *

Lee had just finished bringing his bags down when Zuko ducked into the house and said, "It's all ready, Lee." He said.

Lee trotted out after him, and rounded the corner of the house, to see two low mounds of dirt. He gulped, feeling the tears spring to his eyes once again.

"Do you want to say anything, Lee?" Zuko asked, cautiously.

He hesitated, before looking at the mounds and saying, "Thank you. You were… the best. And I loved you, and I'm sorry for when I'd act up and get in trouble and get you guys in trouble and-" Zuko's hand clapped down on his shoulder. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, before choking out, "I-I'm gonna miss you, a lot. I'm gonna miss your cooking, Dad, and I'm gonna miss when you'd read to me, Mom, and… I love you. A lot." He started sniffling and turned around, burying his face in Zuko's stomach.

The tall man let out a breath, images of his mother's funeral running through his mind. He leveled his gaze at the graves, and said, "I'll take care of him. I swear to Agni and Kolau."

After a few minutes of silence, Suki muttered, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. From the earth we are born, and to the earth we return." Reciting the only part of the traditional Earthen funeral prayer she knew, she placed a sunflower on either grave. She hoped it was enough.

They stood there for several more minutes, before Zuko quietly asked Lee if he was ready. The boy nodded, and Zuko picked him up. Suki ducked into the house and grabbed the over-stuffed duffle bags Lee had packed, before joining the other two. Together, the three of them walked towards the _Flare_.

* * *

Yawning, Iroh walked into the main room of the Ogata apartment, intent on making some tea.

He did a double-take when he saw a scrawny boy passed out on the couch. He took in the boy's still-damp hair, and the t-shirt that Iroh remembered having been Zuko's from years ago. He chuckled softly, and ran a hand over his head, "That Nephew of mine never ceases to surprise me."

* * *

A/N: Wow, wow, wow, wow WOW. I did NOT expect that to be so long. But the story pretty much demanded it be this long.

Ironically enough, the part that I was most excited about writing, the Zuko and Suki vs the Rough Rhinos fight, ended up being my least favorite. My favorite part? The short 'funeral'. It's the first sad thing I wrote and I personally really like it. By the way, the funeral prayer I used, I got it from 'A Different Path', by kangaroo2010. I've shilled it before, but once again, _read it_.

Okay, some clean-up.

Zuko and Katara have pretty much been talking on the computer and through texting for the last few months since the whole Puqi incident. That romance plotline will be picked up more heavily later on, especially after I introduce the way Vanguard is going to be more together and responsive. Because they're still scattered around the world, and only Zuko and Suki have transport. Either way…

Suki just loved bugging Zuko. I feel like this is just the case for all of the characters in canon, as getting Zuko grumpy and/or flustered seems like a fun pastime.

The Bureau, while we've seen very little of it, is pretty much Zuko's main mission-provider. They're who Zuko was retrieving the sword for in the first chapter of this story (yes, that _will_ be addressed). They're like a blend of the FBI and CIA. Zuko aligned himself with them because it was easier than trying to _not_ work with the government, and they give him _lots_ of leeway.

I gotta say, my favorite episode, in both ATLA and Korra is probably Zuko alone. It's so well-written, and _so_ sad (especially that ending? Oh, god, whenever I watch it and hear Lee say 'I _hate_ you!" my heart breaks) I even like Lee (that should be evident) because he's not an annoying kid character, and even though he gets angry with Zuko, its understandable, because Zuko is _Fire Nation_. That's why this chapter exists, pretty much.

The Shan family sequences surprised me. I just kind of wrote the first one on accident, then they just grew from there. I based Mongke's personality on Negan from the Walking Dead (television). I fucking love that character, and I wanted to play a bit of homage to him, with Mongke being _very_ arrogant, and _very_ dangerous when pissed off. Plus, he likes to think of himself as some sort of savior (get it?!).

I just didn't include Sensu… because, since we never see him at all, I felt comfortable leaving him out. So instead of Zuko stepping into a big-brother role for Lee, he'll be something more parental.

In my initial outlines, back when Zuko was the Blue Spirit and a Batman clone, Lee was going to become a Robin-type figure. He _will_ be Zuko's protege… just not yet. And no, he's not going to develop powers.

The Earthen soldiers working for Mongke? The Earth Empire, and pretty much the entire continent that's not a few cities (Omashu, Gaoling, the Fire Nation territories) has pretty much devolved into an almost Mad Max world. No government, and _lots_ of factions. Everyone just joins up to survive, which is what these soldiers did, and why Zuko doesn't want to kill them. As he said, they're not Black Flame, not malicious, just desperate.

I axed the spear-using member of the Rough Rhinos, because, really, who cares? He was the least cool, and I made Vachir a revolver-using sharpshooter because that's _cool_ and I would've only had him use a bow if I included Longshot, but the story was getting too long already. Mongke became a martial arts monster because I didn't want another fire-user in the mix, and couldn't think of a good heat gimmick for him. A kusarigama is a real weapon from japan, with a chain attached to the base of a scythe, making it one of the coolest weapons ever. Finally, I always kinda liked Yeh-Lu because he's almost like a bomb-throwing robot.

Speaking of the Rhinos, no, they're not stronger, as strong, or nearly as strong as Zuko when he lets loose. They're stronger than he expected, so they caught him off guard for a bit. As soon as he let loose, they were done. And _yes_ , the blade could cut his skin. Two reasons: one, it was _really_ sharp, and two, he wasn't ready for it. Zuko can generate a field to protect his body, but it's most effective when he's expecting an attack. Otherwise, things can slip past his defenses. He does have a healing factor, and can completely heal cuts like those within an hour.

I couldn't hep but have Zuko give Lee the knife. It's one of the best moments of the series when he first gives it to him in canon.

Ah, Iroh. I'll use you more soon.

That's about it.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em below!

NEXT TIME: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" _"Look! Up in the Sky! It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's_ ULTRAWOMAN _!"_


	20. Ultrawoman: Up in the Sky!

Up in the Sky!

 ** _?_**

 _"The quakes are getting worse."_

 _"I know, K'th'nra. Our time is almost up."_

 _"The ark?"_

 _"The data upload is almost finished. It will be able to launch soon."_

 _"I never asked… what is the world you chose?"_

 _"We call it Q'un-54. That's what the natives look like. She'll do well there."_

 _"They're so different."_

 _"Our daughter will not be born like us, K'th'nra, the ark will build her, make her more like them. But her genetics combined with the radically different environment… she'll be special. I know it's not perfect… but it's the only way to preserve our people in any form."_

 _"I know Tav-ul. I know."_

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"The upload is finished."_

 _"Wait!"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Let me say goodbye. I know she's just a few cells right now, but…"_

 _"Okay."_

 _"…alright. Alright, launch it."_

 _"Launching… now."_

 _"…"_

 _"…"_

 _"I wish… that she could've been our daughter in practice, not just in technicality. I love you K'th'nra. I wish I had told you that sooner."_

 _"I love you too, Tav-ul_ _."_

* * *

 ** _Republic City, Now Present_**

Korra Nerrivik shuffled into the office of the Republic Times, "Morning everyone!" She called out as she made her way to her desk.

There was a general grumble of "Mornings" in response.

She plopped herself down and lifted her glasses for a few seconds to knead the bridge of her nose before logging into her computer. Pulling up articles she was writing- an opinion piece about the money laundering allegations against Republic's current mayor- she began typing, aiming to wrap up the pice by the afternoon.

After a few minutes, one of her pigtails were suddenly tugged on, causing her to swing to the side with murder in her eyes, only to see who it was and sigh, resignedly, "Ugh, _Jinora_. Stop pulling my hair."

"Finally, Country Girl. I've been calling you name for like, ten minutes." The Nomadic-National woman said, "How was your night?" She took in the dark circles under Korra's eyes, "Do anything fun?"

"Well, I spent a _wonderful_ time with a Mister Whiskey. He gave me an awesome time and put me _right out_."

"Your life depresses me Korra. I mean, all you do is work then go hime and drink. You always look exhausted, and I don't think I've ever seen you wear clothes that weren't meant for someone way bigger than you."

Korra turned back to her article, "Thanks, Jinora. Do you want to poke me in the eye as well?"

"Korra, you know I kid. C'mon, come out with me tonight, do some bar-hopping!"

"You were just complaining I drink all the time."

"No, I was complaining you do it home, all alone."

Korra scratched her neck, and thought about it. It _did_ sound fun, but she also had… responsibilities.

"And hey! We might even run into that superhuman dude who's been saving people at night!"

The Tribal woman blinked a few times, then said, "How do you know they're a dude? They wear a hoodie all the time."

"Just a hunch. Besides, one girl who was saved said that she grabbed their arm and it was beefy, it's _totally_ a guy."

"Whatever Jinora," Korra muttered, "Fine, I'll go out tonight. But _please_ let me finish this, otherwise Shinobi is going to rake me over the damn coals."

"Finally!" Jinora pumped her fist into the air, before retreating to her desk.

Korra typed for a few more minutes before stopping, staring at her arm. She reached up and gripped her bicep through her sweater. She frowned, "I'm not _that_ beefy."

* * *

 ** _Northern Yu Dao Province, 23 years ago_**

 _Tonraq burst into the house, panting,"Senna! You're not going to believe this!"_

 _His wife whipped into the room, "Tonraq, did you- sweet Tui and La, is that-?" She pointed at what he held in his arms._

 _"Yes. That thing that crashed into the field… it was some sort of… vehicle, pod,_ something _. It looked like it belonged to one of those science fiction pictures. When I got close… she popped out." He adjusted the blanket around the baby, tracing a finger over her sleeping face._

 _Senna held out her hands, "Here, let me, take her… she's gorgeous." The baby stirred during the transfer, her eyes opening. Senna gasped, "Just… wow. Those eyes… they're so_ blue _."_

 _"Mmm. The weirdest thing though…"_

 _"What?"_

 _"When I picked her up… she was pale, paler than a National. But on the way back to the house, it's like she… changed to be like me, or something. The last bits of pale skin vanished just as I was stepping into the house."_

 _It was a few minutes of silence, as they both looked at the baby, who just gazed back at them, before Senna asked the pressing question, "What should we do?"_

 _"I… don't know, Senna. I mean… if we tell the government about this… she'll probably be taken for… experiments or something, probably."_

 _"They'd do that to a baby?"_

 _"She fell from the sky and changed skin colors. I wouldn't put it past the government…"_

 _"…we could keep her."_

 _Tonraq's head snapped up, "What?"_

 _"We've always wanted a child Tonraq, this could be the spirits finally granting us our wish."_

 _He frowned, and began tugging on his short beard, a nervous tick he had picked up not long after growing out his facial hair._

 _"Tonraq-" Senna stepped forwards, prepared to push her point, but he spoke before she could._

 _"We could hide the pod in the storm-cellar. The truck should be able to pull it."_

 _She smiled brightly, tinged with nervousness though it was, "So we're going to do this?"_

 _"Yes… what should we call her?"_

 _"How about… Korra?"_

 _"Korra? Hmm… yes, I like that. Hello Korra."_

* * *

 ** _Republic City, Present_**

"Nerrivik!" Korra jumped in her seat as the voice tore through the office, "My office! _Now_!"

She shook her head before getting up and shuffling off to her editor-in-chief's office. She gave a nod to Pema, Shinobi's secretary, before pushing past the steel-and-glass doors.

Shiro Shinobi was a bit of a legend amongst journalists, whether they wrote for a newspaper or hosted a news segment on television. He had started off as a reporter for the Republic Times itself, before eventually being picked up to be a correspondent on the National News because the owner of the Times' parent company liked the young man's "Moxie". From there he moved up to become an anchor, and he served as one for twenty years, becoming recognized across the Nation for his charisma, and his take-no-prisoners style of interviewing. He retired five years ago, and applied for the job as the Times' editor-in-chief, to "Get back to his roots".

He was a skinny man, and several inches shorter than Korra, but he managed to exude an air of confidence and intimidation that managed to make anyone feel small. He was staring out the window when Korra came in, looking at the Republic City streets below.

"You called, sir?" Korra asked.

He spun around, "Nerrivik! I- ugh, you look like _shit_. How are you supposed to go to a press conference looking like you just slept in an alleyway?"

"I- uh, I'm not on the press conference team, sir."

"That's no excuse, Nerrivik! You're a damn good reporter, you could get tapped for a press conference _any minute_."

Korra felt pride bloom in her chest, and a smile begin on her face, but Shinobi continued speaking, "Don't get too pleased with yourself, I'm never going to send you out there looking like that! Ugh. And it's not just you, it seems everyone except for Pema and the press-conference team has decided it's alright to dress like they're underpaid convenience store employees!" He blinked a few times, before shaking his head, "I've gone off topic. That piece you did? The one with the interview with Defense Minister Shinu about National response to the Earth Empire's collapse? Damn good reporting, damn good interviewing."

"Thank you sir."

He grunted, before saying, "How's the opinion piece coming along?"

"Almost done sir, maybe an hour, then I just need to do some editing."

"Hm… good. I look forward to reading that, you always have a good take on things. Which is why I called you in… and I think it's why I'm so disturbed by your clothes today. We have a chance to do an interview with Asami Sato, two days from now."

"Wha- really? Wow, I thought she was still a recluse."

"She practically still is, which is why this is a big, big opportunity for us. And, for you."

Korra felt her heart jump, "Me?"

"What? You think I called you in to chit-chat about someone _else's_ potential article? You're getting this."

"Wow, wow, wow! Thank you sir!"

He just nodded, unsmiling but voice tinged with amusement, "You'll dress nice, I hope."

"Of course sir!"

"And listen, you did well with Shinu, not pulling punches, and driving for the heart of the issue. That's what you have to do again. Her dad was selling weapons to terrorists, and she says she didn't know. If she's supposed to be the president, how did she not know about this? How can people trust her when her father was a traitor? What're her plans for Future Industries now that the stocks are in the toilet? So on, so forth. Go it? Take no prisoners, and don't let her sidewind out of a legitimate answer."

"I understand, sir."

"Good. And buy a damn suit, for pity's sake. And one that fights right! Not like that catastrophe you wore to interview the Defense Minister. He's an old, busted man, Sato always looks like a _supermodel_ , if you show up wearing that mess, you'll look like a hobo. And stand up straight!"

"Okay, sir, I got it sir." Korra slowly back towards the door, before making her escape.

Shinobi tapped his fingers for a few seconds before pressing his intercom button, "Pema, do me a favor and call Tadao up to my office."

 _"Okay, sir… May I inquire why?"_

"Nerrivik's clothes have me all riled up. This morning, I saw Tadao wearing an offensively bright tropical print shirt, and I need to yell some more."

* * *

It was a few hours later (long after Shinobi's rant directed at poor Tadao had finished) that it happened.

Korra had been putting the finishing touches on her opinion piece, when several people started shouting and running around the office. After a few seconds, she made out a coherent sentence, _"Something is attacking downtown!"_

She leapt to her feet and sprinted over to the 'social media corner', where some of the _Times_ 's staff monitored a never-ending stream of pictures, posts and videos. Several people had already clustered around the desks, and she wedged herself in too, just in time to see shaky footage- clearly taken on a phone- of a massive, black-and-white… _thing_ lurching around Kizo Square, roaring and throwing around cars and generally making a mess.

Korra's hands curled into fists.

She knew what she needed to do.

* * *

Running home had taken less than five minutes, she only lived about three blocks from the _Times_ 's office after all.

Being able to move far faster than any human could helped as well.

Korra didn't move any faster than it seemed a human _could_ move, but she definitely would've beat any current, and probably any future record.

After a sprint up the stairs, and a wrestling match with her keys, she burst into her apartment, and made her way to her bedroom. Her apartment was only a little better than a studio, but it was made smaller by the knick-knacks and decorations she had brought from home- most were Tribal, but a few National things were snuck in here and there.

She threw open her small closet and her eyes fell on the trunk pushed to the back, largely hidden by the hanging clothes.

Korra carefully took the trunk out, put it on her bed, and opened it.

* * *

 ** _Northern Yu Dao Province, 8 Years ago_**

 _"Korra? Are you okay? You haven't said a thing."_

 _"I- I'm fine, Dad. This is just… a lot to take in." The teenager gazed at the pod that had been hidden in the basement for her whole life. It was sleek and metal, shaped vaguely like a cigar, with what seemed to be thrusters on one end, and the hatch that her father found her in on the other. She stayed a few feet away from it, afraid to touch it, to make real what seemed very much like a dream._

 _"I can only imagine. I mean, this is a step beyond normal adoption." Tonraq smiled a bit, but his smile fell away._

 _Korra stepped slightly closer to the pod, "It does explain why I can do everything I can do. I thought that I was just… I dunno, superhuman or something but this… makes a lot of sense too." She smiled, and reached out, placing a hand on the pod, "Who knows, maybe-"_

 _It was like an electric shock ran through her. Images of a dark planet, populated by strange reptilian beings flashed in her mind, but they were quickly replaced by_ herself _, floating above the ground, eyes glowing a light blue. Suddenly, a rough, gravely voice spoke,_ "You carry a special heritage, my daughter, and I chose Miyuxia so it could be put to good use. The people of that world, your world, at this point, can be a great people, and you can help shepherd them along the path to greatness. That is why I sent them you.

"My only daughter."

 _Everything stopped, and the room came back into focus, her hand was still braced against the pod. She felt hands shaking her shoulders._

 _"-orra? Korra?"_

 _"Y-yeah?"_

 _"What happened?"_

 _"I don't know. I just saw… I dunno, it was weird, all these images… a voice…" She trailed off, trying to process this new event._

 _Tonraq opened his mouth to say something, when the pod gave off a loud whirring noise. Both father and daughter looked to see a hatch on top of the pod sliding back, and something floated out of it._

 _"Is that…?" Tonraq asked, his voice barley above a whisper._

 _Korra just gaped, before whispering, "Wow."_

* * *

 ** _Republic City, Now_**

The black-and-white monster roared, and began to charge towards a crowd of people who had been watching it with morbid curiosity. They screamed and began to turn to run, but there was a sudden flash of blue, and the creature was knocked back, tumbling through the square.

Floating where the monster once stood was a woman.

She was statuesque and muscular, with the dark skin and blue eyes of a Tribeswoman, her dark brown hair flowed freely around her head and shoulders. She was clad in a dark blue leotard, that covered her torso and arms, black knee-high boots covered her lower legs, and a dark purple cape billowed behind her.

Korra dropped to the ground, and walked forwards, cracking her knuckles, "Listen big guy, I don't know what in the world you are, I don't even know if you're smart enough to understand me, but I'm only gonna give you one chance," She raised her fists, her eyes beginning to glow a whitish-blue, "Give up!"

The monster got to its feet, and Korra wavered a second. The freakish thing had weird, frog-like legs, four arms, and a weird, eyeless, constantly grinning lizardly face. "Agni and La, _what_ are you?" She couldn't help but ask.

The monster seemed to take offense to that, as it sucked in a deep breath, then loosed a massive _roar_ , that sent waves of nearly solid air blasting towards her, ripping up the asphalt as they flew.

The first few waves his her, but she braced herself, and flew upwards. Her eyes glowed brightly, and twin beams of energy blasted from them, slamming into the monster, causing it to stagger back, yelping in pain. She dove down, flew at the monster, before flipping around, and kicking it with both of her legs, sending it through a parked car and through a storefront.

Korra winced, and dove in. She spotted scared, hiding civilians, and rattled off a quick apology, before turning around, and facing a standing monster. It roared and swiped at her, but she launched herself at it, carrying it out into the middle of the square.

The pair tumbled and separated. She got up first, but it managed to knock her away when she came close. The monster then lunged after her, swiping with its many arms. She managed to dodge them, but one managed to latch onto her leg as she tried to pull away.

It swung her around like a rag-doll, her body crashing into the asphalt far, _far_ too many for comfort.

It slammed her into the ground one last time. Her eyes were closed, her whole body stilled by the ridiculous amount of _pain_ the knocking around had given her. She just hoped she wouldn't be just a big, walking bruise tomorrow.

The monster leaned in, sniffing, to see if she was still alive, and she opened her eyes, blasting it in the face with her eye beams. It reared back, roaring in pain, and she leapt to her feet. She fired her eye beams again, and stalked forwards, the energy pushing back the monster, hurting it continuously.

She cut off the beams and flew towards it, and began punching the monster rapidly, attempting to overwhelm it by sheer force.

It continued to roar and groan, holding its hands up in defense.

She reared and loosed a punch intended to be a finishing move, when one of its larger, upper arms shot out, and caught her fist.

The creature snarled.

Korra gulped.

The monster smashed her into the ground and began to do exactly as she had done- punch as fast and as hard as it can. However, it had the advantage of two extra arms, so with her pinned down, she was helpless agains the onslaught. She attempted to fire her eye beams, but he hand holding her down flew to her face and covered her eyes.

The monster reared back and slammed all three of its free hands into her at once, and the ground gave away beneath her, as she fell into one of the many underground service tunnels that ran under the city streets.

She lay at the bottom of the tunnel, trying to get her bearings. The monster was above her, attempting to claw the hole big enough so it could chase after her.

She took several deep breaths, before exhaling violently, and locked her eyes on the monster. "Fuck it," She said as she got to her feet, "Let's go, you grinning motherfucker."

She fired her eye beams, the monster lurched back, but not fast enough, as she flew out of the tunnel, into the monster, and carrying it with her several hundred feet into the air.

She halted their ascent, maneuvered monster so it was under her feet, then kicked down, launching it back to the ground.

It made an impressive crater, which was only deepened when Korra landed on it, smashed her fist into it's grinning face.

The monster went limp.

She got to her feet, and looked around, to see several dozen people still in or near the square. It was a beat of silence, before they broke into wild applause. Korra grinned and raised a triumphant fist.

A newswoman and her camera crew broke away from the crowd and got close to her, "Hello!" The woman said, grinning broadly, "I'm Hifumi Takamaki, Channel Forty news, do you mind asking some questions?"

"Uh, er, no. Not at all!"

"Excellent! Please, what's your name?"

"Oh, uh." Korra looked around awkwardly, and caught sight of other people quickly running up to get a closer look at her.

"I'm sorry, not your real name, of course, but your superhero name."

"I, um, I don't have one. Didn't think of one, to be honest. I guess I can just go along with whatever the news decides I should be called, I guess. Unless it's y'know, stupid or something."

The woman chuckled, before asking another question, "So, do you know the origins of that creature?"

"Sorry, no, I don't. I just heard of the trouble, then I showed up."

"Why haven't you shown up before this?"

Korra felt a sudden pang of nervousness strike through her, as well as guilt. Her nervousness of donning the leotard had always kept her back. She knew that her carefully maintained guise of an alcoholic, out-of-shape journalist with glasses and always put-up hair would help protect her identity, as in the leotard it was painfully clear that she was not out of shape, her anxiousness was more than just secret identities.

Putting on the outfit, using her abilities so openly, would be embracing her alien heritage, and while she had long come to terms with the fact that she _was_ an alien, she was still uneasy.

She couldn't put this all out on television, however, so she bullshitted. "My powers didn't show up until a few weeks ago, then it was controlling them and… yeah. Well, um, I gotta go…" Korra began to float away.

Takamaki smiled a bit awkwardly, but was good-natured, "Oh! Um, okay! Oh! How does… Ultrawoman sound?"

Korra hesitated, before grinning, "Sounds good."

* * *

 _"Sounds good."_

He tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, watching the screen as the newswoman rattled off some claptrap about the fight.

"Absolutely interesting. I didn't realize our vigilante was that strong. We'll have to conduct further tests, her strengths, weaknesses… this is _exciting,_ isn't it, Zhu-li?"

"Definitely sir."

"Call up Project Leap, tell them that their work on the Hei-bai was _stellar_ , and now, I want something more heavily armored, with a focus on maneuverability. Let's see what those guys can cook up!" Iknik Blackstone Varrick leaned back in his chair, grinning at a screen that displayed the… 'Ultrawoman' pushing back his monster with her eye beams. He scratched his chin, and decided that this _might_ be more exciting than the time he thought he had started levitating.

* * *

A/N: Wow, did _that_ go all over the place from my original idea.

Okay, fun fact, this is a bit of an artifact. Back when Aang was Hurricane, and a Superman expy, Korra was essentially Supergirl, as they both would've come from an alien planet (Zaheer would've essentially been General Zod, with Ghazan as his Non, and P'li as his Ursa/Faora). Pretty much tying into how Korra is Aang's successor and Zaheer is essentially evil Aang.

I really waffled on whether or not Korra should be an alien, but then I decided "Fuck it! I'm doing a superhero/comicbook world version of the Avatar characters, I can have fucking aliens if I want!" So Korra became an alien. For how this "superman" story works, I pulled heavily from "The Metropolitan Man", an _excellent_ Superman fanfic on this site, I _highly_ recommend it. Go read it, it's a source for a lot of my inspiration for how Korra's story is gonna go. I stress _inspiration._ As for her name? I just decided to do a reference to an alternate-universe evil Superman named Ultraman. As well as the Japanese superhero Ultraman, I guess.

More will be discussed about Korra's space dad, that vision, and the why her space dad was uploading data into the pod and called it an 'ark' in a later installment.

Yeah, I know Aang already has a farm gimmick, but he's much more of a farm boy than Korra is a farm girl. She's more of a city girl.

Jinora's here, more to just be a recognizable side-character for Korra, rather than just making someone up. I like Jinora the most of the three airbending grandkids. But freaking Milo? UGH, I _hate_ him. He annoys me to wits end whenever I watch a Korra episode, I always just skip over him when I can. The stupid fart thing in season 1 made me almost unreasonably irritated. Pema's there for the same reason as Jinora, pretty much.

I kept trying to make Shinobi _not_ J Jonah Jameson, but as soon as I wanted a newspaper editor, and I picked Shinobi, I couldn't help but imagine him always shouting at people. I think it's pretty funny imagining a guy with that weird, twangy voice yelling at people in anger.

So, we also have Varrick here, who is _easily_ my favorite Korra character. I know he isn't exactly hilarious in this, but he'll be in future stuff as a sorta Lex Luthor, if Lex Luthor was a ditzy genius. And he's making some monsters, which is how I'm getting _some_ spirit stuff to be in this story, but I have a _lot_ of stuff to do with the spirit world up my sleeve (a whole arc, in fact) so I'll just sit on that.

Wanna know a secret? I like Korra more than Aang. I just feel that he's a bit more boring and basic, and I feel she's more of a fun an interesting main character. However, every other ATLA character I like more than every other Korra character, with some exceptions (Lin, Varrick, Kuvira (who IS gonna show up)).

Just as a general note, Korra characters will be appearing more frequently as I manage to work them in, I already have ideas for Kuvira and Mako. I'm staying away from the children of ATLA characters for now, that'll just get things messy for me.

I think that's it…

Alright.

Question? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em below, and if you've like this story so far, why don't ya give those fav/follow buttons a click, eh? See ya.

NEXT TIME: THE BLIND BANDIT DEFENDS HER TITLE AGAINST A NEW HEEL, OVERGROWTH IN A NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH!


	21. Blind Bandit: Snarled

Snarled

Tahno Huu strode out of the Gaoling Police Department with a grin on his face. It was a wonderful day when your bail was posted.

Just as he began to wonder as to _who_ had done that, his eyes picked out a shiny black car, and the burly, long-haired man leaning against it, giving him a look.

Tahno's grin grew bigger, and he swaggered over, "Ah, Xin, my favorite employer! Isn't today such a fine mornin'?" His voice carried not a small amount of Foggy Swamp Twang, as the Tribe had been his home before he had moved to Gaoling to get away from the bumpkins that surrounded him.

Xin barely acknowledged him, just opening the car door and motioning inside, "Bail isn't free, Huu. Get in the car."

"Sure thing sir," Tahno slid inside. Xin got in after him. "Wait, what in-"

"Private driver."

"Oh. What kinda big-shot are ya workin' for now, Xin?"

"Can't talk about it."

After some investigation, Tahno discovered a small fridge installed in-between the seats. With a triumphant laugh, he snatched a beer and popped the cap, before taking a nice long swig. He looked outside, and realized that they were heading _downtown_ , the exact opposite of where all the rich folk lived. "Where goin'?"

"To Doctor Zei."

"D-Doc?" Tahno stammered, "Er, um, why?"

"I said it already; 'Bail isn't cheap'."

Tahno blanched, "W-well… I appreciate the uh, generosity n' all, but I could just… give you the money back."

"No."

"…please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"I don't think you understand what the deal is, Huu. You're coming with me, and you're gonna let Doctor Zei do whatever he wants to you, then, you're going to catch the Blind Bandit."

"The- the Blind Bandit? The Doc is gonna try and make me be able to go up against the _Bandit_?"

"Yes."

"Well that changes everythin'! That lil' bitch is why I got caught in the first place! The cops weren't anywhere near me…" he trailed off, before laughing wildly and slapping his knee, "I'm more excited than a catgator in a chicken coop!"

Xin just looked at him, then shrugged, "Whatever," he turned to look out the window, muttering, "Foggy freak."

* * *

Doctor Qin Zei's 'lab' was actually a converted operating theater, located in a long-abandoned hospital. All sorts of equipment was pushed up against the walls, to make space for what looked like a gigantic test-tube that went from floor-to-ceiling.

Tahno was staring at it- a grumpy Xin Fu a little ways away- starting to rethink his excitement, when a door swung open and the short, lanky Doctor walked in, sporting a lab coat and a cheerful grin.

"Ah! Mister Huu! Right on time!" Zei said, spreading his arms as he walked over to Tahno, who flinched away from him.

Zei had a distinct reputation amongst the Gaoling criminal underworld as a true mad scientist. He experimented on any hapless people Xin Fu handed over to him, largely just to see what he could do. Sure, he turned the Boulder and the Hippo into superhumans, and Tahno knew he was going to be subjected so something similar, but that didn't ease his nerves.

"H-hey, Doc."

Xin Fu suddenly started moving, "I'm going to the viewing room," he paused at a door- one next to a mirror that Tahno was pretty sure was a window- before turning back and giving Tahno a grin, "Have fun, Huu."

Tahno gulped.

"Right! Let's get down to business. First thing's first, strip."

"Huh?"

Zei waved his hand at Tahno's body, "Strip. This operation won't work if you're clothed. Well, not properly anyway."

"What're gonna do to me?"

The doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. He snatched up a weird tube from a cluttered desk and held it up, showing off the virulent green contents, "Tell me, Mister Huu, if a car crashes into a tree, which wins?"

"Well, the, uh, the tree. Unless it's a lil' tree."

"Correct! And, please, is is possible to break a leaf by bending it?"

"Well, em, no, not for most leaves, anyway… if they're fresh."

"Precisely. Mister Huu, I have had a long fascination with the properties of the plant kingdom. How versatile and resilient they are. _This_ ," he shook the tube, "Has been a pet project of mine for quite some time. It contains genetically altered plant cells, combined with microscopic machines. I will inject this into you at various sites, all at the sub-dermal level. Then, you'll step into _that_ chamber," he pointed at the big glass tube thing at the center of the room, "Where you'll be subjected with- well, let's just say, a form of exotic energy, which will energize the plant cells, causing them to spread, bonding to you skin and muscles. If everything goes as planned, your skin and muscles will become as adaptable as plant matter. You could become as strong as a great oak tree, or as flexible as any weed, you'll be able to sprout thorns, secrete sticky sap, or corrosive acid. You will be _extraordinary_."

Tahno blinked a few times, then said, "So, I'm gonna become a plant-man?"

Zei seemed to deflate, and sighed, rubbing his head, "Yes, Mister Huu, you'll become a plant-man."

The Tribal man rolled this around in his head for a minute, before nodding, "Alright, let's do this."

"Excellent! Now, strip."

"Shit, alright."

* * *

Xin Fu sidled over to Lao Beifong, who was watching the short, skinny doctor administer a series of shots to Huu through the two-way mirror. "Hey, Lao, I have a question."

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you want me to tell Huu about you and that the Bandit is your little girl? You didn't mind that I told Boulder and Hippo."

"That was before we entered a partnership, Fu. A one-time-thing and I wouldn't have had to worry about it, but if this becomes a regular basis, I don't need every single street thug knowing who my daughter is. I don't need someone to kidnap her for ransom or something like that."

"Fair enough."

Zei finished giving Huu shots, and guided the now very naked Tribal man to the glass chamber, and helped him get in, sealing the tube once he was inside. The little doctor then scurried over and entered the observation room. "Preparations complete," he said, walking over to the control console that sat below the observation window. He picked up a pair of goggles and pulled them on, "I don't have any extra goggles, so… I wouldn't recommend looking into the light."

"I hope this works, Doctor," Lao said, "and it isn't an expensive failure like the Boulder and the Hippo were."

Zei didn't even bother to look at him, "They were _resounding_ successes, Mister Beifong."

"They didn't catch my daughter, did they?"

"No, but it's not my fault that they weren't able to outsmart a teenager. I grant physical gifts Mister Beifong, not mental ones. Besides, you have no right to complain, you didn't pay for them did you?"

"I _hired_ them."

Zei snorted, rolling his eyes. Obviously done with the conversation, he pressed a button on his consule, and spoke into a microphone, "Alright Mister Huu, we start in three…" his hand rested on a large lever, "…two… one." He pulled the lever, causing a blinding purple light to flare up inside the chamber.

Quickly followed by screaming.

Lao covered his eyes, then looked at Zei, who seemed unperturbed, "You've tested this before?"

"Yes. It was quite successful with mice. The one other human… well," he shrugged, "he uh, kind of exploded into green slime."

" _'Slime'?_ " Both Lao and Xin Fu echoed, both incredulous.

There was one more, loud scream, then a loud _*BANG*_.

The purple light went out, and two taller men turned to look as Zei said, slightly amused, "Oh, my."

The chamber had shattered into millions of pieces, and where Tahno Huu once stood, there was just a giant, messy pile of vines.

"Shit!" Xin Fu said, "Shit, shit, shit."

"Why are you so upset? I'm _paying_ for this!" Lao shouted.

"Well I'm the one who has to _find_ people for this shit show we're running."

"Gentlemen, please," Zei interceded, motioning out the window, "Something's happening."

They both looked outside, and their jaws dropped.

The vines were slithering around, winding together, compacting and contracting.

"What in the Spirit realm?" Lao muttered.

Soon, the vines had formed into the rough shape of a man, bent over, on his hands and knees. The form soon became clearer and clearer as the vines pulled into the form, smoothing out, and turning from bright green, to a lightly tanned skin tone. Fine grass sprouted from his head, before darkening and forming into hair. He looked up, at the window the observers stood behind.

Tahno Huu was very, very much alive.

Xin Fu recovered before Lao, laughing heartily. He pushed Zei out of the way and pressed the intercom button, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Huu. How're feeling?"

Tahno grinned viciously, "Fuckin' fantastic."

* * *

Toph collapsed onto her bed with a groan. She had been working non-stop since she had woken up that morning.

First it had been saving a bunch of people from burning apartment building, then there was a big police chase that careened into her turf, so she had to stop the car full of criminals, followed up by several hours of chasing down the guys who _escaped_ the car, and to top it all off, on her way home, she helped out a little girl whose doll had fallen into a storm drain.

"Ugh."

She pulled herself to her feet and wandered over her fridge- mini fridge that is- and began sniffing around for something edible.

Her head perked up as she sensed someone coming down her hallway.

Shuffling gait, short… an older woman, _lots_ of perfume, carrying some plastic boxes.

The woman got to the door and knocked, Toph just called out, "Come in, Miss Wu."

The elderly woman chuckled as she opened the door, "It always surprises me when you do that, child."

"Eh, what can I say?" Toph shrugged as she picked up a to-go box, giving it a more thorough sniff. _'Nope,'_ she thew it in the garbage can.

Wu started looking around the room, and Toph could hear her heart speeding up, "It always fills me with stress when I come here, I just want to scrub every inch of this place. It's so… dirty." As she spoke, she placed the containers- tupperware, Toph realized- on the small, low table that Toph had recently acquired, before sitting down herself.

"I _like_ dirt. It's a symbol of a healthy, active lifestyle," _'Ugh, this one's bad too,'_ another box landed in the garbage. "So what's in the boxes?" Toph asked as she poked around the fridge. She could've concentrated and smelled what was in the tupperware, but it was easier to just ask.

"Food, child. For you."

"Huh? Why?"

"Payment, for everything you've done for the neighborhood. It's food donated from the whole building."

Toph fought off a blush, and replied causally, "Oh, um, thanks. You, uh, didn't need to do that." She really didn't, Toph made more than enough money by mugging the muggers, thieves, rapists and murderers she stopped on a daily basis.

"Oh, don't be silly."

"Really, I-"

"Please, Toph. It's a gift. It'd be rude to not accept it."

"…thanks."

Wu chuckled, "Oh, young people, you always have to seem all _tough,_ don't you?"

Toph ignored the comment, "So, what kinda food is there?"

"Rice, dumplings, _lots_ of noodles, there's even National and Tribal food from the Togos."

"Wow."

"Word also leaked out about this, going through the neighborhood, so I have a feeling I'll end up bringing you _a lot_ more food."

Toph felt a warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through her body. "Thanks."

"No problem dear."

Toph sniffed around the tupperware, before picking up one and opening it. She breathed in the aroma of freshly made dumplings. With a smile, she shoved one into her mouth and chewed loudly.

Wu groaned in disgust, but Toph could hear the amusement in it.

A few minutes later, after Toph had demolished the dumplings, Wu spoke again, "Please, would you humor an old woman for a few minutes?"

"Uh, er, sure. Why?"

"I would like to read your fortune."

Toph's eyebrow rose, "You're a fortune teller?"

"Yes, well, not as a job, but I _can_ read fortunes."

"So… how accurate are you?"

Wu chuckled, "Depends. The future is a fluid thing, I can only predict the most likely future for someone, sometimes I'll be dead right, sometimes, dead wrong. So?"

"'So'? Oh! Uh, okay, sure."

"Excellent." She took out a small box that had been nestled in her robes, and placed it on the small table. Opening it, she removed what Toph quickly identified as a deck of cards. "These, are oracle cards. They are used largely for guidance, helping people find their path. However, they can also be used for divination. Sit, sit."

Toph plopped down next to her. "So how's this done?"

"Very simply," Wu said, before placing the cards on the table, and spreading them in a line in front of Toph, "Pick three, push them forwards."

Toph held her hands over the cards, moving back and forth, before pushing out three cards.

Wu clucked, and stacked the remaining cards, before pulling the picked cards towards her. "The cards operate in triplets, you see, and it is their sum message that helps peer into one's future."

She flipped the first card, "Ah! The Fire-Lord."

"What? How can Sp- uh, the Fire Lord be on oracle cards?"

"Oh, no, no. This card is modeled after the ancient ruler of the Fire Nation. Represented by a regal man- wearing a golden flame headpiece in his top-knot- sitting on a throne surrounded by fire, the Fire-Lord represents personal power, and self-assertion."

"Sounds about right," Toph said, flexing her arm, "I got _plenty_ of personal power."

Wu chuckled, before breathing deeply, "Now, the next card… the Spire. Represented by a dark tower stretching to the sky, it's a symbol of sudden change and potential disaster. It's the only card with truly negative connotations," she was silent for a beat before shaking her head, "Ah, anyway, the final card is… The Shaman, represented by a Tribal holy-woman. The Shaman is associated with gaining wisdom and prudence."

Toph huffed, crossing her arms, "I think I had enough prudence before I came here."

The older woman laughed a bit, before going quiet, "You truly are a fascinating child, Toph. You truly are… this isn't a drawing like any I've seen before. But if I had to infer… The Fire-Lord speaks of the path you walk, one of discovering and seizing your personal power. No, I don't mean your physical power, but the power of self-determination, to steer your own destiny. The presence of the Shaman makes things interesting, however. It interacting with the Fire-Lord indicates that for you to truly understand and unlock your personal power, you require wisdom, prudence, or some combination of the two. The Spire intrigues me, as it seems to mean that either you will either grow from the disaster it heralds, _giving_ you the traits of the Shaman, or you will require them to face whatever lies in store."

Toph could tell the woman wasn't lying, she definitely _believed_ in the fortune herself. Honestly, however, Toph didn't have an opinion. Sure, it was far-fetched but, well, she had jumped out a window and survived a several-hundred foot fall into pavement. She wasn't exactly one to judge what was likely or plausible.

And, well, the fortune made _sense_. She could certainly picture a future "disaster" she would have to deal with. Especially if those Black Flame guys show up again.

So she smiled at Wu, "Thanks, that was cool."

"Ah, no problem, child," Wu waved her hand around as she put the cards away. "Any time, any time."

"And thanks for the food, maybe-" a sudden ringing cut her off.

Wu clucked, "Sorry, that's my phone," she pulled the phone- a flip-phone, Toph noted- from a pocket and opened it, "Oh, it's my granddaughter, one second," Toph waved her off, and tried to tone down her hearing, not wanting to intrude, "Hello, Meng, did you- _what_?" Wu nearly shouted, getting to her feet with surprising speed, "Okay, I'm with her now, I'll let her know," Wu turned to Toph, "My granddaughter, she's at the bank two blocks away, she says a plant-man… thing is attacking it!"

"On it!" Toph leapt to her feet, her previous tiredness wiped away by the thought of a fight. She charged to the door, "Let yourself out, Miss Wu, thanks for the food and the fortune!"

"Good luck, Toph!"

* * *

Tahno grunted as the vines his left arm had become finally broke through the seal on the vault door. With a grimace, he threw the door behind him, not caring about the screaming people. The vines retracted and reformed into an arm as he giggled in glee at the giant table of cash in front of him. "Well I'll be, is this all for me? Y'alls too kind."

His right hand unwound into vines, and grabbed a bank bag as he walked to the table. He held it to the edge as he shoveled money into it, muttering, "No use in havin' these powers if I can't have a lil' fun with 'em."

He stuffed the bag full, and moved to swing it onto his shoulder, when a voice called out, in an exaggerated drawl, "I 'erd there was 'un hootenanny happenin', I didn' realize, it was you, Taaahno."

The thief swung around to see the Bind Bandit standing in the vault doorway, arms crossed, a fierce grin on her face.

"I don't take kindly to mockery, Lil' Miss," He placed the money bag on the floor, silently promising to be back, "Not at all."

Her brow furrowed, "What _happened_ to you?"

"Eh?"

"You smell like a freaking vegetable, you're not breathing, you have no heartbeat and… are you _naked_?"

He looked down at his body, a vague spike of fear shooting through him. Fortunately, he saw the 'clothes' he had grown for himself, made up of thick, large leaves locked together to imitate clothing. He looked back at her, "I'm not _naked_."

She pointed at her nose, "Then why can't I smell your clothes?"

Tahno chuckled, "Lemme show ya," He launched into action, his left arm became vines again as he lashed out, taking the Bandit by surprise and knocking her into the bank proper. He leapt after her, his other arm morphing into a vine-tentacle as well. "See now, Lil' Miss," he spoke as she got to her feet, "You've made the distinctly _wrong_ mistake to mess with the status of things. Y'got on the Rumble's bad side. I'm just the product of a war you started, made to take you down. And I'm gonna have a mighty fun time doin' it."

Toph just snorted, "Good luck. The Boulder was made out of rock, and you're a _plant_. What chance do you think you got?"

"That's just the thing. Rock breaks. Plants _bend_ ," He snapped out his vines, intending on hitting her, but she sidestepped easily, and gasped one of the vines, stepped back, and whipped around, sending him through the smashed apart bank doors.

* * *

Toph strolled out of the bank doors, and zeroed in on the now-leafy Tahno. Sure, Boulder and Hippo had both been enhanced unnaturally, but she had just figured they had been made just so the Rumble would have more muscle. _This_ guy, however, was made to go after her. She made a mental note to search for whatever _genius_ was making superhumans.

She pushed those thoughts aside and put on a big grin, "So, Tahno, y'think they gave you vines because you're from the swamp? I mean, that's a little mean of them, it'd be like giving one of the Desert people the ability to turn into sand."

The man just growled and lunged, lashing out with his vines, but she rolled out of the way and began running towards the Tribesman, but one of his vines shot around and caught her leg. She started to pitch forwards, but the vine yanked upwards, whipped around, and threw her.

All she had time to think was _'Fucking stupid plants'_ , before she crashed through a wall. Screams broke out around her, and judging from the smell of paper and wide space, she realized she was in an office building.

Reaching out with her senses, she placed herself on the third floor of a building across from he bank. She began to move to the hole her body had made, when she sensed Tahno clambering up the side of the building, towards the hole, stabbing his arm-vines into the brick as he climbed.

Toph paused a second, making a quick calculation, then charged.

Tahno appeared in the opening just as Toph got there, and received a flying tackle before he knew what was going on.

The pair crashed to the ground, and Toph began bashing Tahno's face. However, she only got two shots in before he exploded into vines, leaving nothing that resembled a human.

She blinked under the blindfold, and muttered, "Shit, I didn't expect _that_."

The pile of vines suddenly started failing around, and quickly tangled around her limbs and neck. She sensed a clump of vines form behind her, just before Tahno's voice said, "You just don't get it, Lil' Miss. I'm not human anymore, I can't be put down like a normal jackass."

Toph began to regain her footing, but Tahno just tutted and and exhaled sharply, expelling a dusty cloud. It took only a second before Toph inhaled it and began coughing uncontrollably.

"Like that? It's somethin' like ragweed, from what I've figured out. I can make anything a plant can, just by thinking it," as he spoke, his vines drew tighter, binding Toph more thoroughly, slowly squeezing her throat, "I may not be as strong as you, but I can outplay you. But don't worry, I ain't here to kill you. Just subdue you," he pulled something out from his vines, and through the pollen, she managed to register what it was.

How could she mistake it? She had lived with one around her neck for seven years.

Her father's suppression collar.

Tahno was working for her father.

He wanted to put her back in that prison.

Fear spiked through her, but anger, and a _burning_ determination overpowered it.

She slammed her feet into the ground, then threw out her hands, tearing apart the binding vines, before reaching up and pulling the vines off of her throat.

Toph turned to a shocked Tahno, and hauled her fist back, "Fuck you," she loosed a punch, fueled by the storm of emotion inside.

There was a _*_ bang*, followed by a blast of wind, and Tahno exploded once more, but this time, into dozens of pieces.

Toph stood there, fist outstretched, fighting to control her breathing.

She shuddered, before zeroing in on the collar. With a few long strides, she picked up the collar and crushed it into a mash of plastic gravel and crushed circuitry.

Her head snapped up as the vines slowly started moving. They slid along the ground like languid snakes, gathering together, winding together.

"Uh-uh, no _way_ ," she said, stuffing the collar pieces into her pocket. As soon as the last of the vines had joined the clump, she walked over and grabbed the whole pile. It began to squirm weakly, but she tightened her grip and shot into the bank, and towards the bank vault. She found a bank bag quickly, and jammed the pile into it, peeling off a few vines that tried to grab onto her, and stuffing everything in, before pulling the bag closed and fastening it.

She walked back into the bank, and called out, "Oi, hiding people!"

From behind the teller stations and various pieces of furniture located around the bank, several people stood up. Their hearts were still racing, but she could sense them beginning to slow down. She dumped the bag on the floor, "The plant dude's in here. Keep an eye on him, he's for the cops."

"H-how?" A teller asked.

"I dunno. See if your fire extinguishers work, I guess," Normally, she'd be strutting around, crowing about her victory, but the broken collar in her pocket was throwing her off. "See ya."

She ran to the door, crouched, and jumped, launching herself over the buildings, towards her home.

* * *

Lao Beifong was sitting in his office, staring at his desk phone, waiting for the call. The call that would tell him whether or not Tahno had succeeded at catching his daughter.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise, as something flew through the window, over his head, and landing further in the office.

Lao blinked for a few seconds, when he realized it was a _brick_.

He walked over to it as the office door opened, his secretary poked his head in, "Mister Beifong? Is everything alright?"

Lao picked up the brick, and a flash of white caught his eye. He turned it over, to see a note had been tied to the brick. It was short, just a few sentences.

 _Dear Old Man,_

 _I'm not coming home. And if you're gonna send super-mercenaries after me, make sure they're a challenge. I don't wanna be bored._

His teeth clenched and his hands shook. "Impertinent little…" he muttered. Then, he realized his secretary was still talking.

"…-ir? Sir? Is everything alright? Should I call the police, or-"

"Shut up!" Lao snarled, "Go back to your desk!" The man scurried away.

The phone began to ring.

Brick still in hand, Lao stalked over to the phone and picked it up, "What?"

"Beifong-" Xin Fu began, but Leo cut him off.

"I _know_. I got a… message. Call up Zei, tell him I need a new one."

"Sure, I-" was all Xin Fu got to say before Lao slammed the phone down.

He looked at the brick again. _'Fine,'_ he thought, _'Be that way. I won't give up until you're home. Until you're safe.'_

* * *

Tahno sat glumly at the bottom of his prison. It was little more than a fancy bottle, with a flame thrower at the top to activate if he so much as scratched the glass.

He had no idea where he was going, if his captors- a bunch of Gaoling Military types- had said anything, he had missed it. He had only regained awareness less than an hour ago. Beyond that, the last thing he remembered was being blown apart by the Bandit. When he woke up, he was in the stupid little container, on a helicopter, going _somewhere_. He couldn't even see out a window.

The helicopter lurched, and his three guards got to their feet. Two walked past him, while the third gripped his prison.

Tahno turned to watch the back wall of the helicopter lower, turning into a ramp. Outside was a massive metal platform, with a small group of men standing away from the helicopter.

His bottle lurched as the guard who had grasped it pushed forwards, rolling Tahno down the ramp, and towards the waiting group of people.

A better look a his surroundings only served to confuse him more. Beyond the metal platform, was a massive wall of rock that seemed to surround the whole area. He could see wisps of either smoke or steam rising up from somewhere between the platform and the rock.

His bottle-prison halted in front of the group of waiting people. One stepped forwards, a casual smile on his face. He was a bit short, and dressed in a fine suit without a jacket. He was National, with ruddy brown eyes, and long, dark hair.

He looked at Tahno, and despite his smile, there was little joy in his eyes. He spoke with an oily voice, that somehow oozed self-importance, "I'm Warden Treung. Welcome to the Boiling Rock."

* * *

A/N: And theeeere's the super-prison! Mostly inspired by the Raft from Captain America: Civil War, it's where the world dumps their super-criminals. I'll go into more detail later, when it becomes more plot-relevant.

Ah, Tahno, right, so, _why_ is Tahno from the swamp, with an American South accent? Because I operate under the idea that Tahno in canon is Foggy Swamp descendent, and I wanted to bring that in here and make it so that he's directly _from_ the Foggy Swamp. Huu was also mixed in, which is why he's a Swamp Thing/ Poison Ivy sort of guy here (and _may_ get a swamp-monster form similar to the thing that Huu used in canon later, depending on how things go).

Okay, so, I've been watching some Spectacular Spider-man (in my opinion, it's the _best_ Spider-Man adaptation to date) and I took inspiration from the creation scenes of the Sandman and the Rhino to make Tahno's transformation. Xin Fu also got a bit more like Hammerhead, and Dr. Zei got a little Doc Ock in him too.

Ah, right, Zei. I wanted a mad scientist character, so I took Professor Zei from canon, mixed a little War Minister Qin in, to make this guy.

I always liked Aunt Wu, and I personally thought she was largely legit. I mean, in canon, people bend elements, one human can bend _all_ the elements, and is the avatar of the world spirit, magical bullshit happens constantly… fortune-telling is pretty believable. Anywho, I just wanted to show Toph having to interact with someone she doesn't want to disrespect. Like with Iroh in canon, Wu is a reasonable, wise, old person, so I figure Toph wouldn't be mouthing off to her. She'd respect Wu, like she respected Iroh. The fortune-telling came about because, well, if I'm throwing in Wu, might as well throw in this too. The oracle cards are based on tarot cards, Fire-Lord corresponding with the Emperor, the Spire with the Tower, and the Shaman with the Priestess. Though, they aren't exactly the same meanings. Largely because tarot cards are largely nebulous in meaning anyway.

Why can Tahno control his powers like an expert right away? Because so could Sandman. That's all the reasoning I put in.

If you're wondering/if it wasn't clear, he attacked the bank to draw out Toph, while trying to make a profit while doing so.

This fight scene isn't exactly what I wanted (a bit too short too) but it was hard to write. Toph is too strong for him to fight normally, so that's why he just tries to grab her and wrap her up a bunch. He'll do better stuff when he next shows up, and I can pair him against someone more suited for him to fight.

Plus, Toph's character demanded she end the fight when she saw the collar.

In this world, just as in canon, Toph is probably the strongest being on the planet, barring reality-warping spirits. She has a lot of untapped strength, and that punch is just a taste.

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Leave 'em below!

And y'know, if you've got this far without favoriting, following, or reviewing… why not consider doing one of those things?

Anywho.

NEXT TIME: A crackling noise. Burning ozone. A flash of light. The only signs of Slipstream's new enemy, _Zolt_.


	22. Slipstream: Lightning Bolt Zolt

Lightning Bolt Zolt

 ** _Unknown Location, Two Months Ago_**

 _Zolt lurched into awareness, but his movement was arrested. He struggled for a few minutes, before he paused, and tried to take in his situation. The room was pitch black so he couldn't see a thing, but he could feel he was strapped to a chair, his arms, legs, and chest secured, only his head could move freely. He tried to remember, well,_ anything _, but the last thing he could was going to sleep on his prison cot._

 _Suddenly, a light clicked on, silhouetting a bald man, but revealing none of his other features._

 _"Who the fuck-"_

 _"Zhang Zeng, alias; Zolt. Twenty-eight years old." The voice was heavily distorted, almost mechanical sounding, "A National Father, Nomadic Mother. Orphaned at thirteen. Bounced around foster homes until you aged out, then lived on the streets. Jailed two months ago for participating in an illegal street fight, and rumored to be a gun-for-hire."_

 _Zhang snorted, "So you know stuff any dick could look up in my files."_

 _"True, but I don't need to know much beyond this. You're looking for a way out of the streets. You want more than a run-down apartment in a city where the murder rate is one of the highest in the world. We can give you that. You just need to take care of something for us."_

 _Zolt rolled that around his head before asking, "What do I get?"_

 _"The equivalent of ten million National Yen in any currency you wish, as well as a wiped record and a plane ticket to anywhere in the world."_

 _He let out a long breath, "Money like that… who am I killing?"_

 _"As a criminal, I assume you're familiar with… Slipstream?"_

 _Zolt blinked, before he burst out laughing, "How am I supposed to fight the fucking wind itself?"_

 _"Why… by being faster than it."_

 _Zolt arched an eyebrow._

* * *

 ** _Yangchen City, Present Day_**

The blaze was already out-of-control by the time the fire department arrived.

Several bottom floors of an apartment building were filled with fire, the only small mercy was that it was in the middle of a workday, so few people were at home.

Unfortunately, those that were, were trapped.

Fire Chief Shung hopped out of his truck, before raising his walkie talkie to his mouth to start giving orders. He didn't even get out a word when a blur shot by, quickly followed by a massive gust of wind. The blur flew through the main doors of the apartment building, the wind nearly extinguishing the fire in the entranceway.

Shung blinked once, before making a quick revisal to his plan, "Slipstream just went in, he'll be going for the civilians, so we'll focus on the actual fire fighting. I want hoses trained _there_ ," he said, pointing, "and-" The blur emerged from the doorway, and halted in front of him, coming into focus. In Slipstream's arms was a small old woman, who looked almost startled by what was happening.

"Where's the medical guys?"

Shung started, before getting a hold on himself, "Over there," he pointed a thumb in the direction of the ambulances.

The superhero trotted away, and Shung began to speak into the radio again, "Sorry, so, hoses _there_ , _there_ , and _there_."

Slipstream ran up to him, and began talking quickly, "Hey, um, the old lady I just got out said that she heard a big ' _bang!'_ then a ' _woosh!'_ , then fire was everywhere, so I think-"

Shung waved his hand, "I know, we're thinking arson too, just go save people, we can handle the fire and all the stuff after, okay?"

A bashful grin appeared on the speedster's face, "Oh, um, _right_. Sorry. Okay!" He blasted back into the building.

Over the next fifteen minutes Slipstream was blasting in and out, carrying out several elderly people, a stay-at-home dad and his daughter, a teenaged boy playing hooky, as well as twelve dogs, eight cats, a fish, and one very irritated bird.

The superhero appeared once more from the fire, this time, arms empty. "I think that's everything, Chief, I checked everywhere twice."

"Good work kid," he muttered.

"How's the fire itself going?"

"Shitty. Whatever was used to start it is refusing to go out, it's like napalm or something," Shung pinched the bridge of his nose, "But, whatever. It was good having you here, Slipstream, a lot of those people and well, pets could've died if you weren't here."

The embarrassed smile returned, "Hey, it's the least I can-" he paused, "Hey, do you hear that?"

"Hear-" A sudden crackling noise filled the air. There was a streak of blue-white light, a grunt of pain, then suddenly, Slipstream was gone.

"Huh. Okay then," Shung muttered. He was sure this was something important, but he turned back to the fire. Superhero stuff wasn't in his job description.

* * *

The world stopped being a blur, only for Aang's back to be slammed into a car. He barely had any time to process the feeling of the metal buckling under his back before he was spun around and tossed, this time slamming into brick siding, which cracked from the impact. He didn't even fall to the ground, instead, a pair of hands latched onto his shoulders and pinned him against the wall, allowing him to get a good look at his attacker.

He was National, or at least partly, with amber eyes, black hair, and large sideburns, dressed in a black… tracksuit, of all things.

"Who are-" Aang started, but the man's head cracked into his, causing his vision to blur.

"Name's Zolt. Lighting Bolt Zolt," He grabbed Aang, hauled him over his shoulder, and the world blurred again, before Aang was suddenly sailing through the air. He hit the ground and rolled, coming to his feet. Now, he was in the middle of a street - Aang could see people running away in his peripherals - and Zolt stood in front of him, grinning and crackling with electricity, "And I'm the one who's gonna kill you."

He started to move, and Aang activated his speed. His perception of everything slowed down to a crawl, and Zolt sharpened into focus, coming at a solid sprint that - to a normal perception - would match a bullet's speed. But this was far more manageable.

Aang dodged Zolt's first two swings before sweeping his legs out from under him. Zolt turned the fall into a roll, landed on his feet, and sprung up, bringing his leg around his a massive kick that collided with Aang's shoulder, causing him to stagger.

With a growl, Zolt pressed his advantage, getting in close and landing several body-blows, before Aang caught his fist and used his momentum against him, spinning him around and into the side of a car. Aang moved to close in, but the lightning speedster slipped to the side, grabbed the front of Aang's suit, and slammed him into the car.

One of Zolt's hands grabbed the back of Aang's helmet, and repeatedly bashed his head into the car's metal frame, before the Nomad threw his elbow backwards, catching the National in the stomach, winding him. Aang spun and threw another punch, but Zolt recovered in time to catch his fist, throw it to the side, and cracked Aang in the jaw with his own punch.

Aang stumbled, and Zolt capitalized, launching forwards and spearing him into the ground.

Zolt began hammering away at Aang, who held his hands up to block the barrage, before managing to hit away Zolt's hands and punching him square in the face.

Zolt rolled away and Aang stood up. To him, time began to move at a normal pace once more. He walked - as steady as he could while trying not to double over and curl up in pain - over to the attacker, "We don't have to do this, y'know. You're a speedster, _I'm_ a speedster, can't we just, I dunno, race or something?"

The National got to his feet and spat out a bit of blood, "Sorry, but I have a contractual obligation," he smiled, "And I'm a man of my word."

"Well, then, who're you working for? Who wants me dead?"

"I'm a trigger man, kid," Electricity crackled over Zolt's arms, "I don't ask questions, I just do the job." He raised his arms and loosed twin bolts of lightning which bounded towards Aang.

He shot to the side just in time, but Zolt had already turned and raised his hands, letting off more blasts of electricity.

Aang dodged around them, narrowly escaping the bolts each time, and each time, getting progressively closer to Zolt, who was beginning to pant.

Zolt unleashed another bolt of lightning, only for Aang to slide to the side, put on a boost of speed, and deliver a several hundred mile-per-hour punch to the man's head. He dropped to the sidewalk like a sack of bricks and Aang sighed with relief. He walked over and toed him, "You know, I expected more."

The lightning speedster's eyes snapped open, and his hand grasped Aang's ankle, sending shockwaves of electricity rippling through him. Aang cried out in pain and fell to the ground, dazed, as Zolt stumbled to his feet and shambled a few feet away, dropping to his knees.

Aang focused through the pain, and saw Zolt raise a fist and punch downwards. There was a sudden storm of electricity, surrounding Zolt and… _absorbing_ into him. Aang's eyes flickered around, and he saw the nearby traffic lights flicker… then die.

Zolt stood tall, a cocky smirk on his face as he turned back to Aang, "Neat trick, huh? Electricity fuels me, and absorbing it can heal me up," he rolled his neck, "I feel like I just got a whole week of sleep. How about you?" Arcs of electricity leapt around his body.

 _'Like a cow in a butcher-shop,'_ Aang thought to himself. The fight might not have lasted long - in real time, anyway - but it had taxed his speed like no other fight ever had. He was tiring.

He made a split-second decision.

He stood up, looked at Zolt, before turning on his heels and running away as fast as he possibly could.

Several sharp turns were made to throw off Zolt-who was more than likely following him, before Aang slid into an alley and hunkered down behind a dumpster. Not a second later, a blurred figure crackling with lightning zoomed by.

Aang let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

"There you go, Appa," Gyatso said, filling the massive dog's bowl with kibble. A cat's meowing pulled his eyes to the top of the fridge, and he snorted in amusement, "Yes, Momo, I'll feed you too, don't look so destitute." He shuffled over to the cabinet where he kept the food and exchanged the dog food for the cat food, when there was a sudden knock at the door.

He shook his head and placed the bag back, "Hold on, Momo," he started walking away, but the cat started meowing louder and louder, "I know, Momo, hold on. Now who is-" he swung the door open, and his eyes widened, "Aang."

His adopted son was leaning against the door frame, still dressed in his Slipstream costume, but the helmet was held in his hands, allowing Gyatso to get a look at the bruises that were forming all over his boy's face.

"Hey, Gyatso…" he tried for a smile, but it came off as a grimace, "I may have… gotten in over my head this time." His eyes suddenly rolled up into his head as he fell forwards. Gyatso caught him, and quickly shifted the young man into his arms, carrying him to his room.

"Never a dull moment," The farmer muttered.

Momo kept meowing.

* * *

Zolt was a consummate professional.

He had gotten a handle on his new abilities a week ago, and had shown up in Yangchen a day later. He had spent the rest of his time analyzing everything he could find about his target.

Slipstream was a chronic hero, spending most of the day racing around the city stopping crimes, saving people from various accidents, and once helping an old lady cross the road - boy had Zolt rolled his eyes at _that_.

Using this, he formed a plan to lure out Slipstream.

Set an apartment building on fire, let him save the people - Zolt wasn't a big fan of collateral - then sideline the little bastard and beat him down.

But, unfortunately, the kid had slipped away.

Backup plan it was.

* * *

Something cold and wet pressed against Aang's forehead, causing him to jump into consciousness. He flailed for a second, before blinking, and looking down. "C'mon, Appa. You freaked me out!"

The polar-dog just panted, barked, and attempted to haul himself onto Aang's bed even further.

"Appa! Appa no, no Appa! I mis you too buddy, but down! Down! Down…" the dog finally laid down, looking up at Aang with his big eyes, "good boy." Aang breathed. He took stock of his body and winced, his torso and arms were blotched with several bruises, and judging by how his head throbbed, he was pretty sure his face was in a similar state.

His bedroom door swung open, and Gyatso stepped in, "Ah, you're up."

"Yeah, Appa decided I smelled nice, I guess."

"Perhaps he thought it was time you woke up. Animals have their own wisdom, after all."

Aang looked at Appa, who was taking a deep whiff of yesterday's socks. He turned back to his guardian, "How long was I out?"

"Only two hours. You thankfully didn't have any injuries worse than bruises - thank goodness for that suit - so I take it that fight with that… lightning fellow drained you?"

"You saw that?"

"Well, it was on the news," he chuckled, "But because of your speed, well, it looked more like a big blur."

"It _felt_ like a big blur," Aang shifted, hugging himself, "He's fast, faster than me, that is. Not by a whole lot, but he's hard to keep up with. I managed to give him a good punch in the head, but he just sucked up some electricity from the power grid and was just _fine_." He dropped backwards, onto his pillow, "Speed is my strength, I've been able to fight two superhumans so far using my speed. What am I supposed to do when the bad guy's faster than me?"

Gyatso tutted, "That type of thinking limits you, Aang."

"Eh?"

"It's not about the things we _can_ do, it's about _what_ we do with those things. Think about this, Aang; yes, he might be faster than you, but I'd bet my bottom coin that you can outthink him," he smiled, and looked at Aang, then arched an eyebrow, "But, I can tell that's not the only thing weighing on your mind."

"He… he was hired to kill me. I just… everyone I've fought so far has been fighting because I showed up to stop them. Even the Hippo back at Puqi. I never really thought about the idea of someone actually trying to kill me, personally. Plus… who've I made so mad that they want to kill me? I've locked up everyone I fought. I mean, it could be Black Flame, I guess, but…" he shrugged.

Gyatso hmmm'ed and nodded, "Our world is too large for us to always be able to see the villains. They hide in shadows, whether ones cast by their public personas or those forged by anonymity. Did Black Flame hire, or even _make_ Zolt? I do not know. And I cannot provide answers, or reassurances. If someone with enough resources to get a superhuman like Zolt has targeted you, Zolt will not be the last. But," he placed a hand on Aang's shoulder, "You are smart, Aang, and you know people. I have no doubts that you will be able to find the source of this trouble, and make the world a better place as a result of taking one more villain out of power."

"Thanks, Gyatso." Aang said, smiling.

The farmer opened his mouth to say something else, but the doorbell rang. He stood up and began walking out, "That must be Zhen! She said she was dropping by today to drop off some moon peaches from her family's farm. You know," He said, getting a sly look in his eye as he turned back to Aang, "Her daughter has turned into _quite_ the lovely young woman, and she's only a year younger than you!"

Aang blushed, "Gyastoooo!"

The farmer just laughed, and walked away.

Aang turned over Gyatso's advice in his head. Both pieces had involved using his head. It made sense, he wasn't like the Bandit who could just beat down anyone in her way.

He brought a hand to his chin, and thought about Zolt. Maybe something to do with water could work? There was the old water tower nearby, but-

CRACK-OOOM

Aang leapt from his bed at the sound of his explosion, vaulting over a now barking Appa, and charging into the living room-

He stopped cold.

He could barely breathe.

Gyatso sat slumped against the wall, a smoking crater in his chest. Zolt was looking at the body with a bit of embarrassment, "Shoot, I thought no one was home because he took so long."

"You… you… you _killed_ him!" Aang shouted, and launched forwards, his fist catching Zolt in the chest, knocking the older man out of the house and through the air.

He ran forwards, catching Zolt, and heaving him over his shoulder into the ground.

"You killed my _dad_!" Aang went to punch Zolt's face, but the National caught the fist, and a jolt of electricity shot through Aang, causing him to fall over.

The lightning speedster leapt to his feet, "Casualty of war, kid," Zolt said, repeatedly kicking Aang in the ribs, "Sometimes the people we love get caught in the crossfire. Believe me, I know the feeling. But I do not apologize." He placed a foot on Aang's back, and pressed him into the dirt, the air speedster too weak from his earlier injuries, "As soon as you put on that suit, you should've realized this was the risk you were taking. If it wasn't me, it would've been someone else who made this a reality. Now," electricity crackled over his body, "I'll send you to join your Pop."

"WOOF!"

"Shit!" Zolt yelled, as a massive, furry creature nearly the size of a bear tackled him.

Aang lurched to his feet to see Appa, Good Ol', big, smelly, kinda dumb Appa, hanging onto Zolt, his jaws around the man's left bicep.

Zolt growled, reaching a crackling hand back.

"NO!" Aang charged, delivering a massive kick to Zolt's head. "Thanks Appa! Now go back to the house! Go! Go!"

Appa barked before making his retreat, and Aang turned back to Zolt, who was staggering from the kick. His eyes flickered around, and he caught sight of the distant water tower.

He pulled on his speed, knowing that this was his only chance.

With a massive bang, Aang shot forwards, grabbing Zolt around the waist, and hauled him towards the distant water tower, at a speed he had never felt before.

A few dozen yards away, he stopped, skidded for a few feet, planet his foot, and spun around, Zolt still clenched in his arms, and flung the criminal upwards, at the water tank itself.

Zolt crashed through the old wood, hundreds of gallons of water splashed out as he entered the tank. Aang sped forwards and hid under the tower as the rush of water fell, drenching the dry earth below.

Once it cleared he ran back out, and looked up, at the hole Zolt's "entrance" had made.

The lightning speedster appeared at the hole, soaking wet and scowling. He raised one hand, electrify crackled for a fraction of a second-

When there was an ear-splitting _bang_ , and a massive lightning bolt pierced the sky as the top of the water tank was annihilated.

Aang blinked as a gentle rain of water fell down. He engaged his speed and shot up the tower, ricocheting off the legs to climb. He got to the top - now just a splintered, dripping wet platform - and saw Zolt, on his back, breathing shallowly.

He stared for all of a minute, before deciding the tower and rocketing back to his house, bursting through the remains of the front door, "Gyatso!" He cried as he fell to his knees next to his guardian. "Gyatso…" His head fell, tears beginning to fall.

"Aang…"

His head snapped up, to see the older man's eyes opening slightly, "Gyatso! You're- you're alive! Just wait, I-" He stared to stand, but a hand caught his wrist.

"Aang… no, listen."

"But, you need a doc-"

"A doctor won't help me now, Aang… I can feel it," He coughed wheezily, "Just… stay by my side."

Sadness turned to anger within a few seconds, and Aang felt his hands clenching, "I- I swear I'll find whoever sent Zolt. I'll- I'll-"

Gyatso's hand closed around a clenched fist, "No, Aang. Don't. Seek them out, not for me, nor for yourself, but-" he coughed again, louder, "-but for the benefit of the world."

The anger dissipated as more tears flooded Aang's eyes, "I… I love you, Gyatso. You were the best dad a kid could have."

Gyatso smiled, his eyes beginning to lose focus, "I'm so… proud… of you… Son." His head lolled to the side.

And Aang cried.

* * *

 ** _Two Weeks Later_**

Aang stood at the edge of a tall cliff, holding a simple ceramic jar in his hands. He kept shifting it around, and fiddling with the top, still not ready to release the contents.

The past two weeks had been hectic, being interviewed several times by the police, so they knew what happened backwards and forwards. Officially his injuries were due to Zolt working him over, trying to find out if Slipstream lived nearby. Several of the neighbors had suffered the same fate, Zolt would just blast down the door and beat the crap out of them until he was satisfied they knew nothing.

After Zolt got hauled off somewhere in big, hefty handcuffs, it was getting Gyatso's funeral together. Which had ended up being fairly small, just Aang and several bruised neighbors listening to a Monk give Gyatso his last rites before the farmer and his coffin were cremated. The neighbors had offered their condolences, and nice words, and offers to help with the farm - which he knew was code for _selling_ the farm, or at least parts of it, beach now he was just a twenty-year-old kid with a farm.

Soon they left, and the undertaker and his partners carried Gyatso's open coffin downstairs to the furnace, and he watched as his father-in-all-but-blood was turned to ash.

He was stirred from his thoughts as a large, white bird soared overhead, and into the distance, his eyes following it all the while.

Aang looked out at the landscape, if he squinted, he could see Gyatso's - no, _his_ farm. He took a deep breath, and unscrewed the jar. As he spoke, he took handfuls of ash and tossed them off the cliff, the wind, sweeping it away, "I release you from your final earthly bond, to be free with Patola and her winds, may your soul be untroubled and light." He up ended the jar, releasing the last few bits of ash. As he watched the particles disappear into the air, he sighed, "I miss you already."

* * *

 ** _Unknown Location_**

"The loss of the weapon is unfortunate, but we will recover."

"'Recover'? There's nothing to recover from. Zolt was always a bit-player, an extraneous cog that seemed useful at the moment, but our plans move on. Hail Vaatu."

" _Hail Vaatu_!"

* * *

 ** _Boiling Rock Prison_**

Zolt shrugged his shoulders to get used to the florescent yellow jumpsuit he had been given upon his arrival, after the warden had given him a whole lecture about the prison.

Guards flanked him on all sides, stirring him down a long metal hallway. They reached the end of it within a minute, and Zolt found himself in a wide, circular space, four floors tall, ringed with prison cells. The doors were all made of something transparent- and _tough_ considering how glass would've keep a determined criminal in prison for all of three minutes - showing off the prisoners inside.

Despite the amount of cells, only about fifteen were occupied. All nationalities were represented, as well as both men and women.

It took all of five seconds until one of the prisoners - one with a thick Foggy Swamp accent - spotted Zolt and shouted, "New guy!"

Everyone turned to look at him, expressions a mix of interest, glee, and irritation. However, despite his last experience being hauled to a new cell, the other inmates only gave him appraising looks, with no catcalls or taunts being thrown.

He was brought up a set of stairs to the second floor and was passing an occupied cell when he realized he recognized the occupant, sitting on the floor, "Hey!" He called, stopping. The guards immediately tensed, but watched to see what would happen. "I recognize you, you're that, uh, Zaheer dude! I fought Slipstream too, ain't that something?"

The bald man just gave him a withering look, and turned around.

"Sheesh," Zolt muttered, and began walking again, "So much for solidarity."

* * *

In his cell, Zaheer returned to meditation.

 _'Empty, and become wind…'_

One of his hands rested on the floor.

 _'Empty, and become wind…'_

He pressed down.

 _'Empty and become wind…'_

The metal buckled slightly.

Zaheer smiled.

* * *

A/N:

WOOF, that was a hard chapter to start, but I finally wrote it.

Yes, we have _another_ secret organization, but I promise, it won't pile up against Black Flame. I'm not going to have some ridiculous forty-way melee between everyone. These guys just needed to be established.

Zolt, I like Zolt. I don't know why, but for the ten seconds we saw him in Korra, I thought he was really cool. So I wanted to use him here, and - just like with other older Korra characters - de-aged him.

He's kind of like a combination of the flash and electro (Spectacular Spider-man cartoon Electro, specifically) combined with a hit man. Smart enough, and ruthless enough, to try and figure out where Slipstream lives.

I wanted to show a superhero saving lives, I haven't really done that yet, in the abstract, sure (stopping a terrorist take-over of a town or city, for instance) but not directly. That's where the apartment fire came from.

The fight was difficult to write, because they're both just really fast, and it's hard to write something good around that, so I hope I succeeded.

Gyatso I had to kill off. I needed to add something a bit more to Aang and I wasn't gonna be doing anything with Gyatso, so I had him say some wise words before being axed off. I hope they don't come off as meaningless prattle, let me know if they do.

I needed to give Appa a little moment here, he's always bailing out Aang and the Gang and, even though he's no longer a ten-ton flying shag carpet monster, he needed that moment.

Air Nomad funerals… so I was originally going to do a traditional Sky Burial, what with the corpse being laid out for vultures to eat, but I couldn't imagine a dignified scene for Aang looking at Gyatso's dead body sitting on a rock. So I decided to go with cremation with the ashes being spread to the winds. Then I realized, I pretty much made paired funeral traditions for the 4 Nations. Fire and Air cremate - though fire keep the ashes, in either the home or a mausoleum-type structure - Earth and Water bury - though Earth buries in the ground, with water, they just sink the bodies.

I put in the funeral scene to both world-build a bit with funerals, and to also explain what Zolt was doing that he was breaking into Aang's door, and explain how Aang explained away his bruises.

And Zaheer is not done yet. He has a superiority complex, and doesn't think much of his fellow inmates. But we'll be seeing him later.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em below!

NEXT TIME: The Painted Lady meets a librarian and a gossip.


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